A Step In The Right Direction
by CrimsonCorpse
Summary: Millie was nothing special before the apocalypse, but since she helped rescue Rick from the hospital, she has been an important member within the group of survivors. But is Millie ready to accept the helping hands of the group when she has to face her own problems? Problems that weren't meant to survive in this new world...?
1. The Outbreak Part 1

Chapter 1: The Outbreak

Millie was at the hospital when everything went down. She was being treated by one of the remaining nurse's that still tried to help people, for a couple bruises and a nasty break to the ankle on her left foot. Millie's now ex-boyfriend led an abusive life, especially when he had a bottle of Jack in his hand. Of course, she made up an old excuse of falling down the stairs, but the nurse knew better than to believe her. Yet before she could confront her about it or tell the injured woman that she needs to get out of here now that she was fixed up with a boot, screams filled the halls of the evacuating hospital, grabbing her attention and pulling her from the room. The nurse didn't expect this part of the hospital to be taken over so soon, especially with patients still in their rooms. When the nurse didn't come back in five minutes like she promised Millie, the hurt woman jumped down to the ground and limped her way to the door.

The door was suddenly pushed open by the now moaning nurse, her jaw snapping at a wide eyed Millie. She looked into the nurses discolored eyes before taking in the woman's used to be white outfit now covered in her own blood, the awful torn flesh of a bite mark on her neck, and the scratches on the woman's arms Millie hadn't noticed before. Millie gasped as the dead woman stepped closer to her, the woman's hands swinging slightly as if affected by a breeze. The nurse's hands reached out and snared around Millie's upper arms, the moaning and gurgling of the woman caused Millie to let out her own scream, mingling it with the rest of the ones still carrying out in the halls. Millie pushed the woman back away from her, the force of the push causing the woman to let go of her arms. She shuffled around the nurse who was trying to get back up on her feet, yanking the door open while keeping her eyes locked on the struggling corpse.

Millie looked down the hall to see a cop, a sheriff's deputy, retreating down the hall. "Hey!" She called to him; he never turned to her as he never came back around. Millie looked across the hall at one of the rooms with a gurney stretched in front of it. It was probably a good hiding spot unless someone locked a bunch of those things inside the room. Millie guessed there was only one way to find out for sure as more walking bodies came down the hall, moving towards her slowly as she limped painfully towards the gurney. She moved it only enough to slip through and opened the door. She found a man lying on the hospital bed, but was uncertain if he was actually alive or a walking corpse. The groaning of the nurse filled Millie's ears before she looked back and saw the dead woman opening the door, looking right at her, the jaw still snapping. Millie opened the door wider, turned her back on it and pulled the gurney forward again to hopefully block the creepy nurse from this door. Millie slammed the door closed and locked it before settling her eyes upon the man again. She could probably take him if he reanimated, she just needed to find something to beat him with.

The man didn't look like a corpse because of the normal, healthy looking tone to his skin, but who was she to decide if he would turn or not. She tried to shuffle as quietly as she could towards him, feeling his neck for a pulse as she often did to her boyfriend, whom she was now hoping had been bit in one of his drunken stupors, which seemed to last twenty-four hours seven days a week. The man had one, granted it was a bit faint. She put her head to his chest to make sure he had a steady heartbeat, which apparently was also faint, but it was there. Then she sat on the floor by his bed, praying this man would wake up soon and is able to get them out of there, though from the bandages on his side, she figured she was going to be taking care of him until he did wake up.

* * *

Millie was curled up on chairs that were in Rick's room. She discovered his name after looking at his chart located at the foot of his bed. She was curious to know what landed him in the hospital in the first place so she read through all the paperwork. She glanced at him then, noting that his shaved face was starting to thicken with dark stubble around his face that would probably thicken into a scruffy beard if he let it go. He hadn't woken up yet and Millie wasn't sure he would anytime soon with the wound he had. She got up quietly from her spot between her chairs, sneaking quietly towards the cabinets to get more gauze for Rick's wound, knowing that he needed them changed every once in a while. She heard moans on the other side of the door and froze, not wanting to draw the things attention. She was still until she was sure it was gone before grabbing the bandages and tape and working quickly to remove and replace Rick's bandages. When the job was done Millie went back to her chairs and hunkered down to watch the door for the night, just in case one of those things were smart enough to figure out how to move the gurney and open the locked door.

Millie wasn't going to take any chances and kept a tight grip on the only weapon she could find in this room; a scalpel. There was a spot for a drill under the cabinets but she couldn't find one anywhere in the room and didn't think it would be smart to use something that creates a lot of noise. She had found out a few hours ago that any loud noises would attract the corpses to the hall and she had kept quiet ever since. She would have to do something about them soon, but for now she would just stay in this room with Rick and enjoy the night. Or so she thought.

A sound outside caught her attention but she only stared out the window and saw helicopters fly in waves into the city. She widened her eyes as she watched them pass by. Then Millie almost screamed out in horror as she saw the orange red glow light up the sky. The helicopters were dropping bombs all around the city, the light outside drawing the corpses like bugs. Millie watched the ones closest to the hospital leave and move towards the mushroom clouds in the sky. Her and Rick were safe from the bombs as far as she could tell. They were bombing more into the city as there were more corpses located there. She didn't let her eyes wander from the window and kept her ears open and alert in case one came through the door.

She refused to let herself sleep but when the early morning light streamed through the windows, Millie had passed out. She woke with a start when light scratching came from the window, causing her to jolt up and out of her chairs. She saw the corpse trying to claw his way inside, his face smashed against the glass. Millie relaxed a little knowing that it couldn't get in. She waved to it as she pulled the blinds down, cutting off its view of her and Rick. He still snarled a little bit but other than that, he lost interest and was quick to move on. Millie looked at the supplies in the room and chewed her bottom lip, something that she did when she was nervous. She would need to run for supplies soon. She didn't want to go out there, knowing those things could tear her apart in a few seconds flat but Rick wasn't going to heal properly with his wounds if she didn't do something about them.

She needed food too. She hadn't ventured out in the halls at all since seeking shelter in Rick's room. It had only been a day but still. Millie just wanted to curl up in a ball and stay in the room forever. She didn't care, for now, about food. At the moment she would rather starve herself than go out there into those halls. But then she thought about Rick and how she couldn't let the poor man starve to death. Besides, he would need someone to tell him what was going on in this world and since she had done a little steak-out in his room, it had to be her.

Millie needed to grow a backbone in her life and she needed one now more than ever if she was going to survive, especially if she was going to survive long enough to at least tell Rick the new dangers of the world.

Millie was struggling to overcome her fears from the past, where the world wasn't full of corpses trying to eat the flesh of the few survivors. A part of her missed that world and missed all the people she loved, but a small part of her hated that world because of the people in it. For example, her ex-boyfriend whom she screamed and yelled at yesterday morning for hurting the one person she cared for most in the world; her own child. Yet when she got in the way, he only threw her down and kicked her ankle, breaking the fragile bone before going back to her child, hurting him over and over again.

She had taken her son into his room, keeping his head down and away from her as they made their way down the small hallway. After a minute or so from watching his slumbering face she tucked him into bed, kissing his forehead once before leaving for the hospital. She felt awful for leaving him there with that bastard of a man, but she needed to help her ankle. When she came back, she would take her son away from everything and take him somewhere else, away from all this. But she never went back.

* * *

Millie left Rick for the hundredth time since being trapped in the hospital, and went back into the eerily quiet hallway, the only noise coming from the crutch she carried with her for her ankle. She moved the gurney back in place in front of the door as she stepped quietly over scattered papers, pens, clip boards, bed sheets, and other random objects strewn throughout the hospital. She ran out of food yesterday and had made plans to finally hit the cafeteria a few halls down. The only reason she hadn't was because the vending machines a few doors down from Rick's room were plenty of food for her to eat on her own. Plus, she was never sure when Rick would wake up and made sure to leave some for him each day until her stomach would rumble so loud that she had to eat it. Unfortunately, she stole the last few packages of Lays Barbeque Chips from the vending machine yesterday. Millie had barricaded quite a few doors that had a surplus of walking corpses that were too many for her to handle by herself and walked past them to make sure she and Rick were still safe, even for another few hours. Millie wound up making a backup plan for her and Rick if things became too bad. She had pulled together a line of sharp, piercing objects in front of the doors, just in case the chains wouldn't hold on the doors. Millie promised the unconscious man that she wouldn't leave him behind no matter what. She didn't even know why she had promised him that. She would try her best because she would want someone to do the same for her but she also didn't want to be alone out there, beyond the hospital.

Millie snuck around the cafeteria with her only weapon. She hated that she had to get close to the Snappers, something she liked to call them now, but she had no other choice because she sucked at long range practice and there was no way she was good enough to kill them in the brain from a distance with the tiny instrument and she needed her crutch to lean on. She went behind the counters first, checking to make sure the lunch ladies weren't hiding in the fridges. She gathered the snack packs in her arms before swinging her makeshift backpack around her shoulders to stuff the goodies inside. After she gathered quite a bit of the food in her bags, she snuck out and went to a little storage department a yard away from the cafeteria. She ransacked the area, grabbing bandages, painkillers, boxes full of first aid supplies, and anything else that might be useful to Rick for when he wakes.

On her way back to the room, Millie checked the exit she secured for them should anything happen. The sun hurt her eyes for a blinding minute, but the smell of all the dead and wrapped bodies that littered the ground had been the force that made her go back in the dim, flickering lights of the forgotten hospital. When she got back, Rick wasn't in his bed. She froze where she stood, thinking he died and had gotten up without her noticing, but when she heard the familiar noises of the sink turning on, she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding in.

Millie set the supplies down on the white tiled floor and looked into the bathroom. Rick was up and splashing water on his face until he finally noticed her standing there. "Hi, I'm Millie." She started. He went to open his mouth for a reply but she beat him to it. "I know your name, Rick. Here," Millie spun away from him and pulled out a bag of chips for him to eat. "You're probably starving." He nodded and took the bag from her. "So once you're done eating, I figured we could try and find you some clothes to wear and go find a new place to stay. I haven't scavenged through all of the machines yet in the cafeteria but with the Snappers trying to break through the chains I have on the doors, I don't think this place is going to be a safe place for much longer."

Rick looked at the disheveled woman, eyeing her dirty clothes and face before finally looking at the boot around her left foot and ankle. "I need to find my wife and son. And you look like you could use a doctor, let me call someone for you."

Millie shook her head at him, "No one will come, Rick. I think you and I are the only ones left alive in the hospital." Rick frowned at her. "You've been in a coma for quite some time now. I'd say for maybe a month. I've been in here with you ever since the hospital got overrun. I actually thought you were a Snapper until I felt for a pulse."

Rick looked puzzled at what she was saying to him, but when she motioned for him to follow her; he took a few steps forward until he started to collapse. Millie immediately went to him and put her hands on his shoulder. "I can walk." Rick mumbled, but she ignored him and helped him up, pushing him gently on the bed.

"Well until then, I have a little gift for you." She slipped out the door into the barren halls once more before rolling in with a wheelchair. "I figured you wouldn't be up to much of anything when you finally woke up, so I prepared." She gave him a shy smile. She was probably guessing that he thought she was this weird woman who took up part of his private room with him. Of course, him being a cop, he had probably seen worse.

Rick looked at Mille before finally sitting in the wheelchair. She pushed him through the door after setting her crutch against the wall—figuring it would be better for her to lean heavily on the handles—letting him move the gurney from the outside of the door before moving him in the halls. He looked around at the mess and realized that Millie had been right. They were possibly the only ones left in the hospital. "What happened here?" Rick hoarsely asked me.

She looked down at him before silently wheeling him through the flickering halls. They passed by one of the double doors Millie had chained closed and spray painted that the dead were in there. Rick slowly got out of the chair and walked towards the doors. The groaning started right when he touched the chains, hands slipping through the little opening, trying to grab for the flesh just beyond their grasp. She touched Rick's shoulder and pulled him back to the chair. "The outbreak happened here. I don't know all the details, but when I was here for my ankle, the nurse and I heard screaming in the halls. She investigated while I stayed in the room, but when she came back, she was a Snapper, as I like to call them." Millie shrugged; she looked him in the eye finally. "I left her in the room and found yours. I have been in there ever since. Only leaving when I need food or more bandages to address your wounds and rewrap my ankle. I kept busy after a while, making fortifications around the halls, blocking off the majority of the Snappers."

"Thanks for taking care of my wounds." Rick smiled at her as she nodded.

Millie looked back down the hallway. "I think we should gather as much as we can from this place and get on the road." Rick nodded his head before she pushed him back to the room to gather a few things before they scavenged the rest of the cafeteria and storage rooms for extra supplies.

"I need to find my family, Millie. My wife, my son…" Rick choked back his silent sobs as he looked at her.

She met his gaze full on. "We will, Rick. That's the first thing were going to do once we get out of here. Let's just focus on this task first." He nodded his head, grateful that he met this woman.

"Wait, Millie, what about your family?"

She didn't meet his gaze this time. She didn't even know if her ex-boyfriend was still alive and quite frankly, she didn't care about him anymore. She had done a lot of growing up since being stuck in the hospital fighting off those Snappers. She had finally grown a backbone and was ready to face her demons, or really, her boyfriend. "I actually don't have anybody, at least not worth remembering." He looked as if he wanted to ask but then realized he wasn't a close friend to Millie, at least not yet, and didn't want to intrude upon her life.

"I'm sorry, Millie."

The woman shrugged, "I used to be, but now I'm not."

"Let's just get the stuff and find your family, Rick." She pulled the make-shift backpacks on her shoulders, filling it with the supplies in the room before snatching her crutch off the wall and disappearing down the halls.

* * *

AN: Hey all, what did you think? I'm sure some of you will probably hate me because I'm going to stick to the TV show... But I will be adding my own twists and things like that! Especially for the 7 month break between season 2 and season 3. Also my chapters are really long so I decided to break them down into parts! This is part one of chapter one, I hope that's okay with everyone! Please review guys, it means a lot to hear what everyone thinks!


	2. The Outbreak Part 2

**Hey guys, I just want to thank Steadfastluv and Stjarna19 for favoring/following this story, it means a lot! Also, sorry I'm posting this so late, I was waiting for at least one review and it didn't happen, so instead of holding back and waiting for one that might not come, here's part 2 of chapter 1! Please review?**

**Also, I changed the rating to T, but I will warn everyone now, my story does have foul language! As for sex stuff, if you want me to change it back to M and write out the scenes, send me a message! Otherwise, I wont write it!**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The Walking Dead!**

* * *

They struggled out of the hospital, pausing to take in the daylight and plug their noses from the rank smell of rotting corpses. She helped hold Rick up, realizing that the wheelchair wouldn't be able to navigate through all the dead bodies. They stumbled quite a bit, keeping each other up on their feet. Millie had her crutch under her arm but that was proving to be useless with Rick's weight added with her own.

They made their way out, hardly seeing a Snapper anywhere near them. Millie held up the scalpel anytime one got close enough, but she never had to use it, her and Rick moved to fast for them even with their injuries. Rick was leading her along, not watching out for those corpses but just wanting to get home, to his family. Millie was watching every step they took and made sure they were truly safe.

They had limped as fast as they could across a giant green field, only stopping in horror as a woman dragged herself across the grass, her bottom half of her body nowhere to be seen. Millie let Rick go then; bending over to empty the contents of her stomach at the stench the corpse was leaving behind. She watched Rick carefully as he looked at the thing, really observing this awful disease that took down just about everyone in the world. He crawled away from the Snapper when she tried to take a bite out of him, moving back towards Millie. She picked him up off the ground, and pushed him away from the crawling corpse, following after him until he recognized his own neighborhood.

Rick ran off towards his home and barreled through the door calling out to his wife and son. Millie joined him in the house, peeking through each of the doorways to make sure the undead weren't milling around where they shouldn't. But it was apparent no one was even home; Rick's cries for them echoing through the one story house. Millie watched him for a moment, "Where else could they have gone, Rick? We can look in other places too."

Rick ignored her for the moment, pushing up and out of the house to go sit on the steps leading up the walk. Millie let him be as she went and did another round, looking at everything thrown about. The pictures on the walls were gone, as a matter of fact; there were no pictures in the house at all, Lori, Rick's wife, must have taken them with her. Millie looked out the front door just in time to see a little boy smack Rick right in the face with a medium sized shovel. "No!" Millie painfully hobbled out of the house, ending by Rick's side as the boy called out for his father. Rick was moaning his son's name, mistaking the boys cries as his own sons.

"Daddy, I got 'dis sum'bitch, I'mma smack 'im dead!" the little boy rocked from one foot to the other, raising the shovel a bit, looking for his father's permission to take Rick out, ignoring the woman.

"No!" Millie repeated, cradling Rick's head in her arms, protecting the man she cared for in the hospital.

An older man came running over after taking out the stray Snapper with a quick blast to the head, pushing his son back from Rick and Millie. "Did he say something? I thought I heard him say something." He looked to Millie and his son for an answer, already knowing that the woman was fine.

Before she could get a word out, his son answered him. "He called me Carl." He said breathlessly.

"Son, you know they don't talk." He looked at Rick as he furrowed his brow at the two newcomers.

Millie cradled him closer. "No shit!"

They all ignored her though as the older man pulled the gun on Rick and Millie. "Hey, you two, what are those bandages for?" Rick and Millie just looked at him. "What kind of wound? Now you answer me dammit."

Millie looked up at the barrel of the gun before flicking her eyes to the strangers. "He was shot and I broke my ankle. It happened before the breakout. We're not infected."

The gun was still pointed at them as Rick passed out. "I'll be the judge of that. Up." He grabbed onto Rick and hoisted him up, leading Millie and an unconscious Rick away from the house.

The two strangers were known as Duane and Morgan, a father and son that survived the infection. They led Millie into their bolted down safe house before night fell upon them all. Morgan led Rick into a back room where he tied him to the bed, just as a precaution. He then came over to Millie, looking at her wounds to make sure there were no scratches or bites that marked her pale skin. When she was given the okay, Morgan went to the back room once more to go check on Rick. Duane kept her occupied for a short while, asking her questions about how she survived and why she risked her life for a man she didn't even know. "Do you like him?" he asked, a slight smile on his lips.

Millie shook her head smiling at the absurd question the boy laid on her. "Not in the way you're thinking. I just didn't want to be alone and he was the only one that I found still alive in the hospital." She grinned at him, something she couldn't resist doing in front of children. "Besides, he has a wife and son of his own somewhere."

Morgan came back only long enough to nod at Duane, who then picked up a baseball bat and followed his father down the hall. Millie gently pulled herself up before following the two boys in the back bedroom. Rick finally opened his eyes and looked around at the people in the room with him. He recognized Millie's small form in the doorway, leaning on it for support. "Hey, Rick, how are you feeling?" Millie wanted to get closer to him but Duane stood in front of her, almost like he was trying to protect her.

Morgan cut off any response he would have given her, if he would have given her any at all. "I got your bandaged changed out now, thanks to the supplies your woman here gave me." Morgan stepped closer to the bed. "Look, I got to look out for my own so I'm going to ask some questions. Did you get bit?" The question seemed menacing and it made Millie flatten her lips in a thin line, not liking that Morgan was being so rough with the man.

"Gunshot ain't 'nough?" Rick hoarsely replied.

Morgan shook his head. "Not anymore it ain't. Now you tell me." He nodded for him to spit it out as if Rick was hiding something from him.

"Morgan he doesn't know—" His raised hand had Millie form that tight line again.

Rick never looked away from the irritated man. "No, just shot, as far as I know," Rick matched his stare with Morgan's, a line of irritation crossing his brow.

Rick shied away from Morgan's hand as he tried feeling him for a fever, muttering that Rick should let him check. They exchanged a few words before Morgan flipped out his switchblade. "You try anything don't think I won't kill you, 'cause I will. Both of ya." Morgan looked over at Millie as well before finally cutting Rick loose from the bed. Millie jumped forward and helped Rick to sit up slowly, his wound still agitated. "C'mon out when you're able." With that said, he left Rick and Millie alone in the room, taking Duane out with him to get something to eat. A few minutes later, Rick and Millie emerged from the back of the house, mulling forward and checking the place out as Morgan and Duane set up food in the dining room. Rick exchanged some kind of banter with Morgan as Millie went to her backpack, rechecking the supplies she had left in her bag. She grabbed a small black zip-up bag and quickly opened it before assessing how much of the candy bars she had left. She guessed if she rationed it very carefully, it would last for maybe three or four weeks. Morgan called her over for something to eat and she stuffed the bag back in the backpack she had. Her regular diet was too far messed up and if she didn't get a hold of it soon, she didn't know if she was going to last much longer in this world.

Rick was in denial about the world going to shit. Morgan was slowly but hurriedly trying to explain it all to him in as few sentences as possible. Millie kept quiet through it all, just trying to eat her small portion of dinner. Even after dinner, she kept quiet, just listening to the quiet chatter that was going on between the men and boy. It wasn't until a car alarm went off that pulled me into action, hobbling swiftly to the covered windows. The guys did the same thing, all trying to stare out the same patch of curtain. Duane suddenly took off crying, slamming his little body into the pile of blankets as Morgan followed after him to get him to quiet down. Rick and Millie followed a pretty African American woman all the way to the front porch, where she was now trying to hear every one of them inside. Rick kept looking out through the peephole where the woman was now looking through too. Rick pulled back from the sight and Millie took the opportunity to look through it herself. The walker, as Morgan liked to call them, looked down just then, gripping the doorknob and trying to twist the door open. Millie jumped back along with Rick, keeping their eyes on the knob as it kept twisting.

Morgan kept choking on his words before finally gaining the courage to say something. "She uhh, she died on that bed back there." Millie locked eyes with Morgan before shuddering at the awful image this poor family went through. She went back to the door, blocking out the stuttering words Morgan was saying about his dead wife. She crouched down; deciding to take watch as the rest of them fell asleep, just watching the knob twist and turn.

* * *

In the morning, they slipped quietly out of the house. Rick had taken the baseball bat while Morgan kept the gun. A Walker had sat down near the picket fence and swiveled its head around as it heard the group of four emerge from the house. Rick beat the Walker down, and then lead them all to his empty house. Millie quickly scavenged what she could, grabbed clothes that Lori hadn't had time to grab, grabbed a platinum baseball bat from under Carl's bed, and raided the bathroom for medical supplies before opening the pantry and taking the rest of the food from there. It wasn't much, but it was just going to have to do.

Next thing Millie knew, Rick led them to the sheriff's station. There she and the rest of the guys hooped and hollered about hot water. For the first time in what felt like a long while, Millie genuinely smiled. It was a true miracle that she was even here to enjoy the hot water that was starting to turn her pale skin to a salmon pink.

Once she was finished with her shower, she changed into some of the clean clothes left behind by Lori, hoping that Rick wouldn't mind. Lori's clothes were a few sizes too big for Millie, but she found a gun holster and tied it to her body, using it as a belt to hold up the baggy pants. She then found other clothes in the station, uniforms which she stole and stuffed into her soon to be over crowded backpack. She was just leaving the locker rooms when Rick called her down to the armory. "C'mon, we have real weapons in here for us to use." Millie hobbled over as they dished them out and bagged them up. Rick noticed her holster and gave her a pistol with some extra clips. "I thank you for all that you've done for me in the hospital, but my family may be Atlanta. I don't want to force you into going or staying, so you can come with me or you can stay here, with them." He nodded towards Duane and Morgan who were testing out the scopes and ammo. "You should probably stay with your ankle and all."

Millie shook her head, "I'm going with you, Rick. I don't have anything left here. There's no reason for me to stay. My ankle is slowly healing, and with this boot on I can jog without too much pain." She looked back at the father and son. "They'll be fine on their own. Besides, who's going to watch your back if you get into some trouble?" She smiled at him.

They went out the back way as they all left armory and escaped through the station. Rick had his keys to his police cruiser and tossed them to Millie as he carried the bag of guns in his hands to the car. Before they split up Rick gave a special kind of walkie to Morgan as Millie pilled her bags in the back seat of the cruiser. They all shook hands and said their goodbyes as a Walker stepped up to the gate. Millie jumped in the passenger side of the car before Rick shot the cop down.

Rick and Millie veered left as Morgan and Duane went back to the right. Millie and Rick only made a few stops, Rick feeling guilty for leaving that Walker to drag her upper half through the park, felt the need to end her suffering. Millie stayed in the car, knowing he was just trying to come to terms with the end of the world.

* * *

Rick and Millie were back on the road, him trying to call out on the Emergency Broadcast channel. Too bad no body answered them back though.

Millie picked up her bags from the back seat and followed Rick, who was carrying his own bags, through a desolate town. They tried to get gas but the pumps weren't working and no one answered their calls. They stumbled across a lone horse and quickly grimaced at the other. "I'll take the back; carry all the stuff while you lead." Millie said only to receive a nod as a response. He jumped up on the horse after they saddled him up for a long ride into Atlanta, offering a hand to Millie, which she gladly took and swung herself up behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders before quickly rethinking that and slipped them around his waist as the horse took off in an immediate gallop.

A while later, the horse slowed and Rick walked him along the highway, taking in the empty city as they moved along. They easily bypassed a few of the dead before hearing a chopper in the sky. Rick takes off only to round a corner where a giant horde of Walkers were nulling about, catching almost all of their attention as the horse bucked, throwing Millie off instantly. She bolted up, ignoring her throbbing ankle and calling for Rick to get out of there as the horde surrounded the horse, before looking towards a tank. She quickly ditched her bags, something she felt she would regret later if she were to live, before jumping on the massive vehicle and calling out to Rick who was now making his way towards her, only he jumped under the tank instead of on it. Millie whipped out her gun and fired at a few that tried climbing up the tank to get to her, before Rick figured out that the tank was the safest on the inside. He jumped up and barreled towards Millie who picked off Walkers until he was pushing her inside the tank and throwing himself in after her, closing the top and locking it.

Millie shuffled back as one of the Military men growled at Rick, who quickly took his gun and blew a hole through his face; the ringing of the gunshot echoing through the tank, forcing the two to cower away and cover their ears. Rick checked his clip before they heard static rustling over a radio they hadn't known was there. "Hey, you, dumb-ass." A male's voice broke through the static. "Hey, you in the tank, you cozy in there?" Millie and Rick both looked dumb struck, just staring at the radio.

* * *

**AN: Did you like it? Hate it? Want to beat me with a carrot stick? Tell me in a review! Please guys, I will give cookies and chocolate to those of you who do! :) Also, I will be keeping up with this story! I already have the first season written out and its 63 pages long on Word, in 12 point font. And I'm already working on season 2! I'm not going to say 'if you don't review, I wont post' but can I at least get one? It doesn't even have to pertain to the story! Tell me what color socks you're wearing or the color of your underwear, I don't care! Just tell me something! :) Thanks everyone!**


	3. Trapped

Chapter 2: Trapped

Millie looked back at Rick right as the radio crackled to life again. "Hey, you alive in there?" the voice called. Rick tried jumping to his feet, his head smacking loudly against the metal of the tank. Millie winced for him as he groaned. She looked around quickly before meeting the gaze of the dead military man slouched in the corner. She moved towards him finally, lifting a shaking hand to close his milky eyes before running over his corpse for anything useful.

"Hello, hello?" Rick's shaky voice barely echoed around the metal tank as he responded to the other person's voice.

A sigh was heard as the guy spoke back to Rick. But Millie was determined to find something useful in their situation. Her hand rubbed against something round and when she picked it up, her eyes widened. She had never been so close to a grenade before, let alone grip one in her hand.

"—I'd say make a run for it." Millie looked over at Rick who was staring at her. She shrugged her shoulders at him before crossing over the tank to look for more grenades or more ammo for a gun that they didn't have. "What do you have on you?" the voice called. Millie looked over to Rick and opened her hand to reveal the grenade. Rick took it from her before checking his gun and hers; she was full, never fired a shot.

"I'm better with knives." She mumbled to him as he put her gun back in her holster. She went back to scouring the machine before her eyes landed upon a big buck knife under one of the computers. She snatched it up quickly and nodded to Rick, letting him know she was ready to leave when he was. He snatched a spade from above the radio, something Millie hadn't seen, and nodded once at her before telling her to jump off the right side and run.

Millie opened the hatch to the tank, whipped her right arm around with the knife in hand, digging it right into the skull of the Walker that was left on the tank before jumping out so Rick could trail behind her. They moved fast, Rick taking the lead with Millie picking off the Walkers behind them. She rounded the corner with Rick when she heard a familiar voice scream out, "Whoa, not dead! Come on! Come on!" He pushed Rick in front of him before taking off down the alley that he came from, Millie right on his tail, taking out the Walkers with her pistol. "What are you doing? Come on!" he yelled at her as Rick and the boy climbed the steps that lead up to the building. She emptied her rounds in the heads of the corpses that were the closest before thrusting her gun back in the holster and climbed up the ladder behind the boy. She glanced down only to see an angry mob of reaching hands below her.

"Rick; thanks," Rick held out his hand for the boy to shake.

He took the out-stretched hand, "Glenn; you're welcome."

Glenn looked at Millie, expecting her to spout her own name, but she was too busy staring at the mass of bodies piling together at the base of the ladder. "That's Millie," Rick supplied. "She saved my ass in the hospital." Millie looked up at him then, lifting the corner of her mouth in a slight, trying smile.

Millie grabbed the ladder that was still reaching up to the rooftop, not looking down below where the Walkers were grasping on to the ladder. The boys followed her, exchanging some banter back and forth as they all moved across the rooftops. Glenn found some kind of hatch that lead down and tossed his backpack below. Millie bit the inside of her cheek. "Rick, I need those bags by the tank." She forced herself to look at him, trying not to give anything away.

"I need those guns, but our lives are more important." Rick squeezed her arm before trying to push her toward the hatch.

"You don't understand, my life—" Glenn interrupted their conversation with one holler asking them if they were coming. Rick moved Millie again and this time she went down, following Glenn into the darkness. They were in another alley but this one was less crowded with Walkers than the ones only a few blocks away. Two people darted out, heavily dressed with black gear and baseball bats in hand, taking out the Walkers blocking the three from the confines of safety. Glenn ushered Rick and Millie into the doorway, the geared up people back tracking into the building once more, slamming the door closed behind them.

As soon as they were in the building, a blonde haired woman grabbed Rick's shirt and forced him against a few boxes, gun pointed right at his face. "You son of a bitch, we ought to kill you," she growled between clenched teeth. Millie was faster than the rest of the people shuffling about in the room, placing her own gun against the woman's head. Millie barely took in the woman's appearance, just glimpsing at the dirty flannel shirt and cargo pants she was wearing. They all had backpacks and gear on them and Millie couldn't help but wonder if they lived in the city or were just out here to make a run for supplies.

"You even cock back the gun; I will shoot you before you think about pulling the trigger." Millie snapped.

"Andrea, calm down!" a Latino man called, slipping off the gear and making a pile on the ground by the door.

Another woman, black haired and dark skinned, came over and touched Andrea's arm. "C'mon, ease up."

"You're kidding, right, Jacqui, Morales? We're dead because of these stupid people!" She kept glaring at Rick as Millie pushed her gun more forcefully into her head, reminding her that Millie and Rick were together.

"Andrea! I said back the hell off!" Morales said, coming over right to her ear. He didn't want any blood spilled and knew that if Andrea didn't back off, then Millie would blow her brains out. But what they all didn't know was that Millie's gun was empty. She knew, but these survivors weren't there to count her bullet shells as she emptied round after round into zombie heads.

Andrea withdrew her gun from Rick's face before Millie dropped her own. "We're all dead now," the woman cried. Millie rolled her eyes and walked away from the group of people to go scavenge the building and check for another way out without alerting the few hundred Walkers down the block. Rick and the rest of them had decided to talk and explain the situation that they had found themselves in. Millie was already in the main part of the shop when the rest of the group came in, forcing Rick to see what he and Millie had done when they fired off rounds before taking shelter in the tank.

Millie had decided to shop around and take some of the clothes off the racks since all of the ones she took from Rick's place were in the middle of a horde. She tucked as many clothes as she could in her waistband and looped a few belts between her belt loops on her jeans, tucking different articles of clothing between the belts. She yanked a backpack from one of the shelves and stuffed a few boots and socks in some of the pockets. She threw her own worn vans on the ground to swap them out for heavy duty army boots, just in case one of the corpses preferred to eat the toes first.

Next thing Millie heard was some kind of gunshot from above the group before hearing Andrea sigh loudly, "Merle." They all made a mad dash up to the roof just in time to see a tall, built man taking out Walkers on the street with a heavy rifle. Millie jogged over to the edge, peering over at the damage the man was causing. It didn't matter who got the group in trouble now, they were all going to be screwed by this redneck anyway.

Millie turned to the fighting group right as T-Dog took a swing at Merle, who quickly dodged it and threw the butt of his gun right into T-Dog's nose. "Hey!" she called barreling over to stop the two idiots before they alerted all the dead in the world to their location. Rick tried to intervene but Merle quickly landed a punch to his face, making him fall back. Millie lunged herself on top of Merle's back, folding her legs tightly across his stomach, ignoring the pain in her ankle, as her arms slipped under his and folded together on top of his head, locking him in place. "Enough!" Millie hissed in his ear, partly because she was upset at the way these grown ass men were acting and partly because her ankle was screaming for her to let go.

Merle wasn't done fighting though. He quickly shifted his weight to his heels, forcing himself to fall on his back, or in this case, Millie's back. She had the breath knocked out of her lungs but only tightened her arms grip on the struggling man as she coughed and tried breathing again. Rick came over only to handcuff the struggling redneck to a bar that was closest to his right hand. Millie let go, coughing as she pushed Merle's upper body away from her own, wiggling out from under him. Rick grabbed her arms and hauled her away from the angry redneck, patting her back as she tried to breathe. "Are you okay?" He asked her, moving his gaze between her and Merle. Millie nodded and pushed away from him, needing her space.

"Rick, I need my bag." Millie coughed. "I can't leave without it."

"Millie, we can't go back for it. Not yet." Rick looked towards the group before wandering over to them. Millie looked over the edge of the building taking count of the dead before cursing. She knew Rick was right; it was a death sentence to go back. But she absolutely needed what was in those bags.

Millie joined Rick and Morales at the edge of the roof right as the man whispered, "Well Officer Friendly, welcome to the big city." The three of them peered out at the streets where the dead were now walking aimlessly about.

* * *

"Keep trying the CB." Morales said, looking at T-Dog, the black man that had been fist fighting with Merle, who had the radio in his hands while glaring at Merle as if the man would spring from his cuffs and kill them all.

"Why?" Andrea huffed, "there's nothing they can do." She stepped away from the ledge, going to her backpack a ways from Merle's feet. Millie left the ledge as well but headed back inside the department store. She got down there just in time to see the doors groaning with the extra weight it wasn't meant to handle.

Millie circled around and went back to the door they had rescued her and Rick through, opening it enough to check what was out there. A hand clamped on her shoulder and pulled her back inside, making her come face to face with Rick. "What are you doing?"

Millie rolled her eyes, not liking the fact that Rick was treating her, a grown ass woman, like a child. "Rick, we need to get out of here and grab those bags." He nodded to her but refused to let her go. "I figured we could mask our scents with the dead. I think we have a very distinguished smell and that's why they can track us down. We have to blend in somehow."

Rick nodded, loosening his grip on her arms. "I need you here though, you're the only one I trust right now and I need to know that someone is here backing up these people in case something goes wrong."

Millie glowered at him, "You mean, should Merle escape, you don't want him to break the glass on purpose."

Rick nodded. "I have Glenn and Morales in the sewers right now, trying to find out if we can escape that way."

The woman shook her head. "There will probably be some Walkers in the sewers, maybe not a lot, but what if we all get turned around somehow and end up below that horde a few blocks away? I don't know about you, but I'm awful when it comes to directions."

Rick cracked a smile at that, but shook his head anyway. "I've come to like you Millie, I want to see you safe, so please don't fight me on this one. Stay here while I try to figure this out. Maybe I can circle back around and get those bags, huh?" She knew it was a lie, but she gave in and nodded anyway. Maybe these people had sugar at their camp she could munch on. Or if she was lucky, she could force them to make a stop at a store somewhere and she can replenish her supplies.

"Fine, I'll back you up on this one, but you owe me." Millie sighed, giving Rick a playful smile of her own. She moved back up on the roof, looking back over the edge, ignoring Merle and T-Dog completely.

"Hey, Princess!" Millie refused to look over at Merle as he called to her. "How 'bout you come on over here and let good 'ol Merle loose from these here cuffs?"

"Hey, man, leave the woman alone. She didn't get you in this mess, you did." T-Dog snapped at the redneck. Millie rolled her eyes and knew that T-Dog had been given the key, so it didn't matter if she got him out or not.

"Even if I wanted to, Merle, I couldn't help you. T-Dog has the key, not me." Millie told him. She bound over to him, crouching down in front of Merle. "And T-Dog is right. You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out if you behave and we believe that you won't hurt anybody." Merle set his jaw, trying not to spaz out and tare through the metal bar.

The door opened spilling the rest of the group back onto the roof. Rick took up the binoculars and looked out at the roads. Millie walked up next to him, surveying the land for the hundredth time. "Those construction trucks keep keys on hand, if we can get over to them—"

"Not with all those Walkers in the streets, you'll never make it past them." Morales cut in.

"You got Millie and me out of that tank," Rick started, staring at a wide eyed Glenn as he realized what Rick was saying.

"They were distracted; feeding on that horse." Millie shivered at the thought of that poor animal.

"Now hold on, I think he's got a point," Merle barked out, earning glares from everyone in the group.

"Shut up, Merle." Jacqui spat at him.

Rick ignored the hostile banter between the people. "They're drawn by sound, right?"

Glenn nodded but wasn't sure where he was going with it. "Right. Like dogs. If they hear it, they'll come."

"Rick, I think my earlier idea might work." Millie spoke up. "The only things we need are some suits and a truly dead Walker." Rick nodded at her before following her down from the rooftop, a few of the others trailing behind them. They all tore through the department store as Millie led Rick to the part of the store where they offered some kind of lab coats and gloves.

"If bad ideas were and Olympic event, this one would take the gold." Glenn spewed lightly, trying to make a joke out of a horrible situation. Millie cracked a small smile before glancing towards the door as more Walkers tried pushing in.

"They already got through one set of doors; that glass won't last forever." Rick nodded over towards the door Millie was watching. They all dressed in suits and bolted for the doors that lead to the back alley. Millie stood back and watched as they dragged the carcass of the dead Walker back through the door. "Millie, go back up and be our eyes in the sky." Millie shot Rick a glare before doing as she was told. She snatched up the abandoned rifle on the ground before looking out the scope, trying to see a path for Rick and Glenn to take through the mass of walking dead. She jumped over to the other side of the roof, watching them as they veered right into the mass of dead bodies. Millie followed their every move until they had to crawl under the bus. She moved to another side of the roof, where they would spit out from under the bus. She watched as they moved slowly, trying not to catch the dead's attention as they moved through.

A clap of thunder rolled through the sky and had Millie looking up at the angry clouds. She cursed quietly and gazed around Glenn and Rick, looking for any signs that a Walker was onto them. She felt the first few drops of rain on her arms and growled softly. This was definitely going to ruin their plan of getting out of here. "Rick," she mumbled, angry that he refused to let her tag along.

Millie threw the strap of the gun over her head, pulling the hilt against her shoulder tightly as she looked through the scope and placed her finger on the trigger. The rain pelted down harder as the storm started rumbling in. She saw Glenn look back at the zombies they had passed, saw his eyes glance up at the sky as he began to freak out. The rain wasn't close to stopping when their smell of death began washing off their coats. Millie chewed on her bottom lip before taking the first shot at a Walker that opened her mouth at Rick. She shot again when they both spun around, taking out another one trying to grab at Glenn.

Rick spun around, grabbing at Glenn as they bolted for the truck. They reached it after hoping over a fence where Rick started firing at the Walkers that were trying to hop over the fence to get to them. Millie unloaded her bullets at the ones Rick wasn't shooting at, hoping it would buy them a few extra moments. She watched as Rick and Glenn climbed into the cab of the truck and watched as one of the Walkers slammed into Glenn's door. Millie took him out a second before they peeled away from the Walkers and the rest of the group.

Millie turned around before switching on the safety of the rifle and sped walked toward the rest of the group. "Your buddy just left us!" Andrea screeched at the woman. "We should just leave you up here with Merle!"

She ignored Andrea, turning towards T-Dog. "Let him loose, were leaving." She faced Morales and Jacqui as they were starting to panic as well.

"How do you plan on getting us out of here, huh? Our only hope was that van and they left us here!" Morales barked at her.

"Did you expect them to barrel through the gate full of Walkers? Huh? What about the streets?" Millie dared them to test her patience. "They would get jammed up with all those bodies. They'll come back. They just need to distract those Walkers in the streets. Now let's move!"

Millie led the way off the roof, going towards one of the exits. They all needed to have a little more faith in Rick and especially Glenn. How dare they think that Glenn of all people would leave them behind. Even Millie could tell that Glenn was a caring person and he cared for these people in the department store.

A car alarm reverberating around the alleys had Millie smiling. "Get those roll-up doors open once I drive by!" Glenn's voice echoed over the CB. "Rick is driving the van around once the Walker's follow me!" Millie quickly pulled on the chains, hearing the glass cracking, alerting her to the threat of Walkers entering from behind them. Morales came to her aid, pulling the chains with her.

Once the doors rolled up, Rick backed up the truck before opening the hatch on the back. Millie heard T-Dog's shouts over the glass breaking and she quickly pushed Jacqui up into the van before meeting up with T-Dog and firing her gun off into some of the zombies. "Where's Merle?" Millie yelled to him. "I thought I said to unlock him!" T-Dog shook his head at her and grabbed her arm, yanking her back to the truck. He didn't want her to risk her life for someone like Merle Dixon.

Morales picked her up, threw her in the car, and jumped in after her. Rick peeled away as Morales closed the truck door behind him. It was silent in the cab, except for everyone's haggard breathing. They all stared at T-Dog until he met their gazes. "I dropped the damn key." He spat out, looking right at the eyes that stared at him.

"Where's Glenn?" Andrea looked around, making sure he wasn't just hiding somewhere.

"He's in the sports car, leading a horde of Walkers away somewhere. In fact," Rick said, smiling a bit. "I think I hear the alarm still going off up ahead."

Millie couldn't join the others in celebration. They had left a man up on a roof to die. No matter how cruel he had been, he didn't deserve to be served up on a silver platter for the Walkers. She just stared at the back door, refusing to look at the people left in the cab. Millie didn't know if these people should be trusted, and she wasn't about to put her life in the hands of these people, especially not after what they did to Merle.

* * *

AN: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! To the wonderful guest review! I really appreciate whoever reviewed, I am so grateful to you that I decided not to break up this chapter into parts! You made my whole week with the review! Thank you! To everyone else out there, thank you for reading my story! I would like to thank Addictedtoreading452, Jovie Black, Ryanarima, Stjarna19, and Symmetryfreak88 for Favoriting this story! And thanks to Addictedtoreading452, Fallenstarnight, JCLProductions88, MariLucia, Steadfastluv, hideher, Symmetryfreak88, and AnimeFreak9096 for Following the story! If I wrote your name in the chapter before, I'm sorry, I forgot who but thank you twice!

Anyone else want to review? Please and Thank You! :)


	4. Weak

Chapter 3: Weak

Rick was still driving along the road when Morales turned to him, taking in the look plastered on Rick's face. "Best not to dwell on it," Morales shrugged his shoulders. "Merle got left behind. Nobody's going to be sad that he didn't come back… except maybe Daryl." Rick looked back at him before flicking his eyes back to the road.

"Who's Daryl?" Millie asked, looking right at the two men.

Morales looked between her and Rick and finally answered, "His brother." A car alarm behind them all had Morales dropping the subject of Merle and looking out the window to see Glenn whooping and hollering. "At least someone is having a good day." Glenn sped ahead of the truck, gaining speed as his calls of happiness echoed on the empty highway. The drive up to the group's base camp was long and quiet; the only talking that was going on was Morales giving Rick instructions on where to turn. They had lost Glenn when he sped away, but they knew he would be fine.

They reached a small canyon covered by trees and high rocks, the car alarm ringing off the cliffs as Glenn drives into the tidy base camp full of other survivors. Rick pulls the big truck up behind a different car as people are scattered around Glenn, moving their mouths hurriedly. Millie only guessed they were attacking the poor boy with questions. Morales opened the back door and slipped out; joining the others in a haste to join up with what Millie assumed was their families. Millie finally jumped out of the van, going around and opening up Rick's door, giving him a light smile that never made it to her eyes. She was just as hurt as he was.

Rick piled out of the van, walking forward a bit before looking up and meeting the gaze of another man. Water pricked at his eyes as saw the man. His eyes glanced over the camp before meeting the eyes of a young boy and his mother. "Oh my god," he whispered, staggering a few steps as he moved towards them.

"Dad! Dad!" the boy called out, running towards Rick with tears flowing from his eyes. The woman took off in a run as well, but didn't hug Rick until him and his son were sitting up on the ground. Millie stared at them as they shared a special moment. Then she backed away and removed everyone's belongings from the back of the truck.

* * *

Night fell on all of them as they sat around a campfire and listened to Rick share his story. Millie let him tell the whole thing, not bothering to go near the campfire. She was still angry that they had left Merle up on the roof. My god the man could be dead tonight.

"Millie had saved my life from the moment it all happened." Millie turned towards the campfire; every eye was looking at her, especially Rick's wife. She looked grateful with the way she was staring, her blue doe eyes smiling at Millie. She stared at Rick's family, his wife Lori was tall and skinny with long brown, wavy hair and high cheek bones while his son had short chopped brown hair was skinny and had a rounded face. She liked his family and was genuinely happy that they found each other in this new world.

"We kept each other alive out there, Rick." Millie responded, trying to get him to pick up the story and have everyone look back him, not focus on her.

Dale, the old man with the fishing hat, kept staring at her though. "Millie, it sounds as if you had seen this before. What's your story?" Everyone was looking at her again, even Rick.

Millie scratched the back of her head and sighed. "I ran into someone I knew before I took myself to the hospital for my broken ankle. He tried to bite me."

"What did you do?" Amy asked.

Millie turned away from the group, a lie spilling from her teeth. "I bashed his brains out." She walked away, feeling uncomfortable about explaining her past to everyone. She made her way down to the quarry where the water barely moved. She took off the boot that was secured around her broken ankle, not liking that it was starting to smell. She stripped off her clothes after double checking no one was watching her and moved into the cool water. It felt nice on her skin and her broken ankle. She gingerly scrubbed her body and foot without any soap to rid her of the gore and sweat that would probably never truly leave her body.

She soaked in the water for quite a while even when her fingers started to prune. Her mind was wrapped around Daryl and Merle. She had never met Daryl but she was sure that if he were anything like Merle, they would all have hell to pay when he gets back from wherever it was that he went. If that were her brother, she sure as hell would fight tooth and nail to go get him back. Millie made a choice right then and there; she was going to get Merle back. She shouldn't have even let T-Dog pull her back to the truck. She should have stayed behind and saved that man; like she did with Rick.

Millie got out of the water, pulling dried, clean clothes from the pile she stole at the department store on her body. She didn't care that her hair was sticking to the shirt she wore as she pulled her boot on her foot once more. She noticed her hands shaking as she walked back up to the camp, but she shoved them in her pockets. She moved past the RV that Dale was sitting on top of, but his voice called out to her. "Millie, are you alright?" He stood up from his chair, looking down at her. She met his eyes, before nodding her head. "I think you should come inside the RV and get some rest."

"That's sweet Dale, but I have to get going if I want to reach Atlanta by morning." Millie went to take a step forward but ended up staggering against the RV. Dale came down the ladder quickly.

He pulled her into his arms and went to go sit her down on one of the limited chairs they had at the camp. "My god, you're shaking like a leaf!" Dale looked alarmed by how badly she was shaking. "You're not going anywhere tonight. Here, I'll go get you some water."

Millie clasped her hand around Dale's wrist, "Sugar."

Dale frowned at her, coming back to face the shaking woman. "We don't have any sugar."

* * *

In the morning, Millie was still shaking and her skin became pale. Dale kept her hidden away in the RV and she was dying to get out. She needed her bags. Her life depended on those bags now that she knew they didn't have sugar lying around. She opened the RV door and shakily got out of cramped space before hearing a scream off into the woods. She tried making a run for it but her legs gave out like they were made from jelly. Dale ran to her aid as a few people grabbed weapons and headed off into the woods. "C'mon, let's get you back up in a chair." She groaned as Dale picked her up under the arms and dragged her into a chair.

"Go see, Dale. I'm okay," Millie groaned. He nodded to her and took off after Rick and the rest of the people.

Only a few minutes later a man in a stained brown shirt with the sleeves torn off came barreling out of the woods, the rest of the group trickling in behind him. "Merle!" he called, stilling walking forward. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel!" Millie picked herself up out of the chair.

Shane called out to the redneck man, "Daryl, slow up a bit, I need to talk to you."

Daryl glimpsed around the camp before responding, "'bout what?"

"About Merle, there was a—there was a problem in Atlanta." Shane turned his body in front of Daryl.

Daryl looked back at Rick and the rest of the people gathering around. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

Daryl almost choked on his words when he heard that, his anger started coming out. "He either is or he ain't!"

Rick finally stepped up, coming in between the two circling lions. "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll just say it."

"Who're you?" Daryl spat.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got sumthin' ta tell me?" Daryl kept pacing around, ready to pounce.

Millie stepped up then. "Your brother was handcuffed to a roof. He was very hostile and no one could calm him down any other way." She staggered a bit before Dale came up behind her and grabbed her arms.

Rick looked back at her, noticing how clammy and sweaty Millie looked. T-Dog came up behind Daryl with a bundle of logs in his hands, probably for firewood. "Let me process this. You handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl stalked toward her and Dale like she was going to be his next victim. Rick stepped in his path before he could come any closer though.

"It was me, not her." Rick spoke. That sent Daryl over the edge. He angrily tossed his line of squirrels at Rick who dodged them easily. Shane slammed himself into Daryl, quickly taking him down to the ground. Daryl rolled away before unhooking his knife from his belt. T-Dog yelled out, saying something about Daryl's knife as the man stooped low, ready to take on Shane and Rick. Millie slipped out from Dale's grasp and strode over to help the two cops.

Daryl lunged at Rick who dodged his knife before snapping his hand on Daryl's and pushing him back where Shane came up and grabbed Daryl in a choke hold. Millie took the knife from Daryl's now slack hand and came up beside Rick, who stooped low enough to look Daryl in the eye. "You have two options right now, Daryl." Millie eyed the struggling man carefully. "The easy way or the hard way, and we can sit here all day and talk about it but that's not what's going to save your brother."

"Now, I'd like to have a calm discussion about this," Rick said, taking over for Millie. "Do you think we can manage that?" Daryl didn't say anything but Shane let him go when the man stopped struggling. "What I did was not on a whim. Millie over here had to lock his arms and even then he was fighting her with everything he had. We learned something real fast then; your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault," T-Dog called, "I dropped the key."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl snarled his eyes were wet with unshed tears at his brother's loss.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog looked away from the angry bull that was Daryl.

Daryl only stared at him before Rick let him get up. "If that's s'posed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well maybe this will," T-Dog said, following the redneck with his eyes. "I locked the door with a padlock. There's no way the Geeks could get to him, the passage was too narrow."

Daryl shook his head, tears falling from the man's eyes, but he wiped them away faster than they came. "Hell with all y'all!" he snarled out before taking a few deep breaths. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get 'im."

"He'll show you." Lori, Rick's wife, called over. "Won't you?"

Millie looked up at that. She didn't think that Rick would risk his life now that he found his family, but she guessed the guilt was eating him alive just like it was to her. Then maybe she could get her bags back finally. She seriously needed them now. "I'm going too." She called over.

Dale looked flabbergasted at what she said. "You shouldn't be moving around, Millie, you're sick!"

Rick looked up at her, "Millie?" She shook her head at him, a stern look on her face. "I'm going Rick, I need my bags. I have medicine that could help me and my body can't wait much longer. You don't know what I need to keep myself alive and I can't wait until tomorrow, not even tonight."

"Tell me what it is, Millie. You've helped me, now let me help you." Rick pleaded.

"I'll let you know what's going on only if I get my bags, and I'm going with you." Millie staggered away a bit and shook off all the helping hands that were trying to reach for her. She got inside the truck, waiting now for the rest of them to decide who else was going to tag along.

When it was taking them all too long, Millie hopped out of the truck only to see that everyone was fighting Rick on going back out there. Millie stepped up, looking right at Lori. "I promise you, Mrs. Grimes, no harm will come to your husband." She looked at Millie then, her brows furrowing a little as she took in the small woman. "I will make sure he is safe. He will get back to you and your son, even if it's the last thing I promise." Lori lightly smiled at Millie, thanking her with her eyes. Millie turned to the rest of the people that were gathered to go back for Merle. "Now let's go, we've wasted too much daylight already." Daryl got up and stalked right behind her as she made her way back to the truck.

"Hey, Princess," Daryl called to Millie. She rolled her eyes at him, ignoring the nickname his brother gave her the day prior, before turning back towards him. "You still got my knife."

Millie cracked a small smile at the redneck. "You'll get it back when I think you're ready to play nice with others." She turned back around and pulled herself up against the passenger side of the truck, feeling her legs shaking, ready to turn to putty if she wasn't careful. She latched onto the truck, opened the passenger door and hauled herself up into the cab. Daryl was already in the back, just staring ahead, making small glances her way.

"Were you bit or sumthin'?" Daryl asked her.

Millie looked back at him, her clammy pale skin looked sickly but it wasn't the ashen color like the dead's was. "No, not bit. I just have a sickness of my own, something that probably wasn't meant to survive in this world." Millie turned her head forward once more, changing the topic. "I tried going back for your brother, but the glass broke on the door and Walker's flooded in. T-Dog had to yank me out of there, but if he hadn't, I would probably have stayed with your brother. No man should be left behind."

The front side of the door opened as Glenn hopped up into the cab with Millie. He awkwardly shifted around before putting the key in the ignition and backed the truck up to Rick and T-Dog who were getting a pair of bolt cutters from Dale. The older man looked into the cab at Millie after he handed them over to Rick and gave her a smile; she nodded at him before Daryl started screaming that they needed to leave.

Rick came around and jumped into the truck, leaning over and putting in the five bullets Shane gave him for his Python. What were the odds, indeed. Daryl closed the hatch down before Glenn started the truck up again and taking off down the dirt road back into the city.

* * *

Glenn led the five onto the train tracks where no Walkers were to be seen. It was a miracle that they didn't face any danger on their way back to the city, but Millie had a bad feeling in her gut that the danger was waiting for them in the city. She hoped and prayed that Merle was still stuck up on that roof, that way they could quickly release him and go get the guns and Millie's bags from the tank, if they were still there.

Millie was the only one that kept the men from hauling ass, but she was starting to feel queasy and that didn't mean a thing for her illness. It would only get worse if she didn't get to her bags soon. Rick and Daryl were the only two that pushed Millie forward. T-Dog and Glenn were by her side asking if she needed to be carried to which she spewed out harsh words at the two men.

Rick fell back once they made it through the gate, looking at Millie worriedly. "Guns first or Merle?" he asked lightly.

Daryl doubled back, angry as hell. "Merle. We ain't even havin' this discussion." His heavy eyes laid on Millie and the rest of them.

"We are," Rick glared back.

Glenn looked at Millie and shrugged. "Merle would be closest. We can grab the guns on our way back." They all hurried along, Rick latching himself onto Millie as they ran. She tried her best but the energy she was depleting would only make her condition worsen.

They found the department store after running around for ten minutes; Millie had a nasty headache at this point but refused to let the others know her condition was getting worse. Daryl quickly let himself inside, killing the Walker's that were still lingering around the store. One woman in particular caught his eye as he called her an ugly wench before shooting an arrow in her eye after the woman growled at him. Honestly, post-apocalypse Millie would probably do the same thing if a man called her an ugly bitch, the only difference was that she wouldn't just growl at him. Of course, pre-apocalypse, she would only cower and wait to be hit.

They all climbed the stairs and clipped the deadlock before Daryl forced his way through the door. Millie's legs gave out just then, her body unable to hold her up any longer. Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn all followed Daryl onto the roof as the door shut behind them, shutting Millie into the quiet staircase all alone. She heard Daryl's cries as he screamed out for his brother, but that was the last thing she heard before she decided to take a rest, only wanting to close her eyes for a minute.

* * *

AN: Hey guys! I wanted to post this now because I'm going on vacation for the next five days! Woo! Thank you to my wonderful reviewers! Ravensandrats and Dove is the Way! And thank you for telling me the color of your socks, I love the color green, though my favorite color is purple! xD

And of course, thank you to Kokiee, Skies192, Ajay131, Karambulance, BloodChilde, and Carlisles gurl for favoriting this story! And thank you to Dove is the Way, Ajay131, BrknFire, GuardianAngel45, Skies192, acsgrlie, grim assassin sherlock101, ravensandrats, NamikazeMia, starsnthemoon, .14, BloodChilde, Carlisles gurl, golden-priestess for following this story! I appreciate all of you favoriting and following, it means the world to have your support! Thank you!


	5. Help Part 1

Chapter 4: Help

Millie's eyes flickered open after hearing gurgling coming from below her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw one of the Walker's that the boys hadn't killed come bounding up the stairs. Its lifeless eyes sought her out before the vile creature screeched and moved faster towards Millie. "Rick!" the woman hoarsely called out. Her hands were shakily fumbling for her knife, her fingers slick as she sweats buckets of water. She couldn't grab the hilt of her knife, her eyes too scared to leave the Walker. The door swung open on her right, arms pulled her through the door while Daryl stepped in front of her and fired a silent arrow in the hungry Walker's forehead.

"Millie, are you okay?" T-Dog asked, his arms still under hers as he kept watching Daryl stalking about.

"I'm not bit, if that's what you're asking." Millie supplied, struggling to get out of T-Dog's grip and stand on her own. "I passed out for a minute. I guess I'm thankful to that Walker. She woke me up by scaring the crap out of me."

"Merle went this way, let's go." Daryl barked out, hardly glancing at Millie as he moved past them following his brother's blood trail. Millie got up on her own, shrugging back from the hands that went to follow her, and followed as quickly as she could after Daryl.

Rick caught up to them quickly, never straying too far from Millie just in case the weak woman passed out again. Daryl kept his crossbow up and ready to use as they moved through the building, following his brother's blood trail. They all came across two dead corpses, blood pooling around their heads. Millie had to turn away after seeing that, her early breakfast came up fast until she was left to dry heave a few times. She barely heard Daryl and Rick's conversation over her retching.

"He had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches," Daryl praised, almost as if he were proud of his brother. "One handed." Daryl bent down and cocked the crossbow back as he reminisced about Merle. "Toughest asshole I e'er met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

Rick stepped forward and started to lead the rest of us along. "Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." He barely shot Daryl a look as he raised his gun and kept moving.

Millie finally let T-Dog help her by taking her arm and pulling it over his shoulders as they moved. Her thoughts weren't staying focused on finding Merle, "That's my house!" She cried, pointing out the window, her eyes wide with an even wider grin upon her face.

Glenn turned to her and T-Dog after she spoke, "You can see your house from here?"

"No, it is right in front of me," Millie shook her head. They all stopped and stared at her, her mouth opened in a wide grin. "The boy is waving at me! He's wearing his swim trunks."

"Whatever is going on with her, it sounds like it is getting worse." Rick said shaking his head as he looked at the poor girl. "Let's move. Maybe we will find Merle soon."

Millie kept thinking she was home in her humble abode. She tried going towards the back door that lead to the pool, but a little boy held onto her leg, tears welling in his eyes. She bent down and made goofy faces at the little boy to try and cheer him up. He smiled a little and held out his hand for her to take. When she did, the boy led her to an empty chair by the back door; the same door that led to the pool. He let her cheer him up before giving her a big smile and pointing out at the pool. She nodded her own head, understanding that he wanted to swim. She wanted to swim as well, the Georgia heat was getting to her. "Shall we jump together?" she asked the little boy. He nodded his head vigorously. They got up together, holding hands as they pried the door open immediately feeling a gust of wind hit their faces. She was able to get one foot out the door before muscular arms circled around her waist, pulling her hand from the little boy's as he jumped into the pool without her.

Rick rushed to Millie's side as Daryl refused to let the woman go, his arms the only thing that stopped her from jumping out the damn window. "What the hell is her problem?" He tossed Millie to his right side, pinning her down as she cried out for a little boy that was nowhere to be found.

"She's sick. T-Dog's right, if we're going to find Merle out here and get Millie back to normal; we need those guns and the bags she left behind. She has some kind of medicine in them that will help her, that's why she's been so adamant about getting them." Rick looked around until he met Glenn's eyes. "What do we do?"

Glenn looked around for a few seconds before slipping here and there to grab a few things. He crouched down and started drawing some square's and lines, almost like a crappy map. Rick and the rest of the men gathered around him, Daryl keeping a tight grip on Millie's wrist even though she had calmed down a bit. Glenn looked up at Rick, "Here me out."

Rick ran a hand over his tired face before stopping at his chin already knowing what the younger man was going to tell him. "You're not going alone."

"If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look," Glenn looked down at his little diagram of the city, picking up a black paper clip and placing it down by one of the many squares. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He picked up a crumbled piece of paper, "that's the bag of guns and Millie's bags." He pointed with his finger on a space between squares on the left side of the paper and paper clip. "Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Millie and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl scoffed; already mad he wasn't out there searching for his brother.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun. Not to mention, Millie will need someone to babysit her." Daryl frowned and looked over at Millie who was moaning quietly and rubbing her temple like she had a headache. Glenn brought him back to the plan as he placed an empty lead container where his finger used to be. "While Daryl and Millie wait here in the alley, I run up the street and grab the bag."

Rick looked at the map and frowned. "You got us elsewhere?"

"You and T-Dog, right." Glenn looked as if he forgot about them. He grabbed a big pink pencil eraser and placed it a few squares above the crumpled paper and paper clip. "You'll be in this alley here."

Rick looked confused, "Two blocks away? Why?"

Glenn moved his hand from the eraser and brought it back to the paper, "I may not be able to come back the same way. Walker's might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are." He looked around at each of them. "Whichever way I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here and help Millie."

Daryl nodded his head at Glenn, "Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?"

"Delivered pizzas," Glenn frowned. "Why?" Rick and Daryl looked at each other before nodding their heads in unison.

* * *

Millie had pinched herself to try and keep her head on straight. She didn't like that she had tried jumping out the window because of a crazy hallucination that was a bit too real for her liking. Daryl had kept looking back at her to make sure she didn't hop on the crazy train again and she didn't like that she had to sit here and be babysat. She wanted to help Glenn get her bags but then at the same time she was glad she didn't have to exert any more energy. She would need what she had left to apply the needle in her hip.

Glenn and Daryl hid behind a dumpster in the alley while Millie was propped up against the wall. They had made her climb the ladder down last just in case she slipped and Daryl could grab her, but she had stayed focused long enough to make it down.

"You got some balls for a chinaman." Daryl mused.

Glenn shook his head slightly, "I'm Korean." Then he was moving out into the streets out of Millie's sight as she waited patiently for his return. Daryl hunched down and placed an arrow properly inside his crossbow, ready to fire it should a Walker sneak up behind Glenn.

Millie turned her head to the left and saw a boy in a white shirt come down the alley quietly. She picked herself up with difficulty as Daryl shot out from behind the dumpster, crossbow aimed right in the boy's face. "Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" the Mexican boy called out a bit too loudly for Millie's liking.

"Looking for my brother, he's hurt real bad. You seen 'im?" Daryl didn't lower the crossbow and that scared the boy.

"Ayudame!" he screamed out.

"Shut up!" Daryl and Millie hissed together, not wanting the idiot to give away their position to the Walkers. "You're going to bring the geeks down on us. Answer me." Daryl continued as Millie glanced behind them.

The boy kept screaming loudly for what Millie thought was his friend or was at least a person in his group. Daryl had enough of the boys yelling and smacked him across the face with his crossbow, sending the boy to the ground screaming in pain and calling for help at the same time. Millie went to grab Daryl but he bent down and covered the boy's mouth telling him to shove it. That's when two men that were not a part of Rick's group came barreling down the alley the same direction Glenn had disappeared from. They quickly tore Daryl away from the boy and started punching and kicking him. Millie screamed at them to knock it off and when they made no move to slow down or stop she jumped on one of their backs and started punching down on his chest, aiming for the bone in the center of the chest.

Glenn came back down the alley and paused as he saw the fighting, his eyes growing wide. "That's it that's the bag!" the one Millie wasn't beating on called. The man Millie was fighting quickly dug his nails in her arms and swung her over his shoulder, she cried out in pain as the man flipped her over and used her as a body shield against her comrades. She saw Daryl get up with his crossbow and fire at one of them, getting him right in the ass cheek before he grabbed Glenn who had dropped all the bags and tried to run as a baby blue car pulled up behind them. "Daryl!" Millie screamed out as she kicked and thrashed against the man who was holding her. He threw her in the trunk of the car when it unlocked and popped open before the other man threw Glenn on top of her and slammed the door down on top of them. Millie screamed and kicked out, shoving Glenn off of her as she turned her legs towards the taillights. She tried kicking again, this time busting out a taillight in anger with her right foot, her left too sore to be used.

"Millie, stop!" Glenn grabbed her arms as she seethed with anger. She was so close! Her bags were right there!

"Glenn, I need my bags!" she cried out before she stopped kicking the trunk. "I'm going to die without my medication." Just then her body tightened and constricted itself before her arms flailed out, her fingers curling tightly around Glenn's shoulder. Her body started to shake violently in uncontrollable spasms with her eyes wide in fear, her mind screaming and mouth oozing foam and drool down her pale cheeks.

"Millie, what's happening?!" Glenn pulled her body on her side as he tried to look at her face, at her eyes. She couldn't answer him and tell him that her body was starting to shut down. "Are—are you having a seizure?!" Glenn's eyes became scared. "Millie, you're okay! Don't think about it; think about Rick and Daryl and T-Dog! They'll find us, they'll rescue us! You'll be okay!"

The car came to a screeching halt before doors were thrown open. After the kidnapers were out of the car, they popped open the trunk only to see Millie in the middle of a seizure. "Oh my god, get her out of the trunk now!" the one with the arrow in the ass said, grabbing Millie's stiff arms as the man that she had beat on grabbed her knees, careful of the boot on her left foot. That left Glenn with the driver.

Millie was brought inside a compound that looked eerily familiar to the hospital. She was set carefully on a bed and was hooked up to an IV. She tried fighting her seizure and tried to get up on her own but her body wouldn't listen to her. Another man came in the room just then and looked at the man with the arrow to the ass. "Felipe, what happened?" he looked over at Millie. "Is she going to be alright?"

"We ran into some trouble while picking up the guns," Felipe looked at Millie, "her and her group fought with us and we had to leave Miguel and the guns behind." He looked back at the other man. "She's having a seizure, I'm not sure what it's from, G, but she should be alright after some rest." Millie tried shaking her head no, that she wasn't going to rest but once her seizure had calmed down and ended after another agonizing few minutes, Felipe filled a syringe with some kind of liquid and then shot it into her IV bag, causing Millie's eyes to drift closed after a few seconds.

* * *

AN: Hey guys! I'm back from vacation and I had a pretty good time! I wrote as much as I could as well! On the downside, I lost my glasses in the ocean... but I got a new pair and I can see again! Woo! So thanks to everyone for writing a review, I really appreciate the feedback and all your comments! I love it! And I love you! :3 So I want to say thank you to my wonderful reviewers: ravensandrats, taylorgrimsley.14, and Emzy2k11; here's part one of chapter four! I got it out as soon as I could!

Thank you to these fine people for following: arakmelion, 38, and hot2trot619!

Thank you to these beautiful people for favoriting: Emzy2k11! (I posted this chapter for you, by the way xD)

And thank you to everyone that has viewed my story, I have reach over 1,000 views so THANK YOU!


	6. Help Part 2

**Hey guys, this one is kind of short, so I'm sorry but you find out what Millie is hiding, or what she has I should say! The next one is the start of a new chapter and I might post the whole thing, so don't be too mad at me for this one being short! Thanks everyone!**

* * *

When Millie forced her eyes open again, she was surprised to see that Felipe was still in the room with her. "You should rest some more, you deserve it after today." He didn't look away from her as she lightly shook her head. "You're friends dropped by a little while ago. They wanted to know how you and your Asian friend were doing. We showed them the Asian boy as proof that you two were fine, but that redneck that shot me in the ass, he was more worried about your safety." Felipe chuckled a bit. "He didn't even relax when they asked the Asian boy themselves."

"Can I go?" Millie asked uncomfortably.

Felipe didn't answer her question; instead he asked one himself, "Do your friends know about your hypoglycemia?" Millie's eyes widened. "Because the way that the Asian boy was freaking out in the car, it seems like he has no idea, or he has no idea how to help someone with a seizure."

"They don't know. I haven't exactly had the greatest opportunity to bring it up in conversation." Millie admitted, looking shamefully at her hands which were now balled together in her lap.

"You're lucky you talk in your sleep, otherwise I might have given you the wrong medication." Felipe gave her a smile before getting up and helping her into a wheelchair.

Millie allowed this, not really having the strength to fight at the moment. "Is this a hospital?"

Felipe shook his head before sitting her down in the chair. "Not exactly; it's a home for the elderly. I'm a nurse here with Jorge. We're the only two nurses left after everything went down. The elderly couldn't defend themselves so the two of us, along with G, the custodian, all decided to stay and take care of the people here. We've been growing in numbers ever since." Felipe wheeled Millie out of her tiny room and pushed her down the halls and into the big dining room where most of the people were.

"I bet the supplies are really low with how many people are here." Millie looked around and saw the smiling faces of the elderly accompanied by other people of all ages.

"We try to make runs as often as we can to keep this place going, but I honestly don't know how much longer it's going to last." Felipe came to a halt next to two white and one black Chihuahua dogs. "Stay here; recover." He smiled at her one last time before disappearing back down the hall as the man named G called for him.

Millie stole another glance around the room before her eyes landed on a familiar Asian. "Glenn!" his head swiveled around at the sound of his name before meeting her eyes. He smiled at her and ran over. "Are you okay?"

Glenn nodded, "I'm fine, and I was more worried for you! They wouldn't tell me what was happening to you; they just said that you were sleeping."

"I was sleeping. But they fixed me right up and I'm on my way to a full recovery." Millie gave him a smile then heard some kind of commotion to her left as an older man started breathing irregularly.

"Someone get Felipe!" a woman shouted out. Millie almost rolled herself back down the hallway until an older woman left the man's side and quickly moved down the hallway. A few seconds later, Millie heard an echo of guns cocking back. She looked up at Glenn but he was too involved with the man to notice what she had.

Millie heard footsteps coming back in their direction and looked expectantly towards the doors for Felipe to come back with the old lady. She saw him enter with her as expected but when Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog followed behind them her mouth was gaping open. Daryl spotted her first, "Millie?" he rushed to her side, inspecting her once before looking back over to the man that was having an asthma attack.

"Daryl, how did you guys find this place?" Millie snagged onto his belt loops. "Did you find Merle while you were out there?"

Daryl snapped his head in her direction, "No, we didn't find Merle." He looked back over at Rick, T-Dog, and a perfectly unharmed Glenn. "We made Miguel tell us where the hideout was. Turns out they wanted our guns. Now we just have to get out of here peacefully." He looked back at her, "Anything happen to you while we were gone?"

Millie shook her head, "They helped me."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man!" T-Dog growled out to Glenn who had just explained the old man's asthma attack. They all glanced at the cute dogs sitting beside Millie. Rick suddenly turned to G in anger, whispering words Millie couldn't hear from where she was. Then Rick, G, T-Dog, and Glenn walked down the hallway into a more private room. Daryl stayed behind long enough to wheel Millie after them so she could be a part of whatever was going to happen.

"—so we do what we can here." G was saying as Millie was wheeled into the room. "The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city, but most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something." G doesn't look away from Rick as he keeps talking, "So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut all except one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can," Rick supplied, feeling as if he knows what the man is talking about. Rick looks down at the gun in his hands and points the butt end towards G. Then after G takes it from him, Rick breaks into the bags and gives him some more guns and a few boxes of ammo.

* * *

Once they closed the doors behind the five of them, Millie was on her own two feet, not quite up to par in the health department, but was good enough to stand and walk around on her own. "Before we make the journey back home, can we stop at a convenience store? Or Gas station? Whichever is on our way back to the truck?" Millie asked quietly.

The boys all looked back at her before Rick nodded, "Only if it's on the way back to the truck."

They all jogged back the way they came, spotting two gas stations which Millie escaped inside to fill her bags full of candy bars. She was in and out in less than five minutes, refusing any help from the boys, especially Daryl. He had almost made her uncomfortable with the way he acted back in the old folk's home. But then again, it wasn't just him worried for her safety. Glenn had told them all about her little seizure back in the trunk and that was why she wasn't up on the roof with Glenn when they had tried to make the rescue the first time around.

Millie was snapped back to the present by Glenn's voice as he tried to make a joke. "Admit it; you only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

"Don't tell anybody," Rick played along, making Millie lightly smile.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo," Daryl scoffed out, ruining the good moment Glenn tried to make. Millie figured the younger redneck was still hurt about not finding his brother like he wanted to.

"Not nearly half," Rick argued back.

"For what?" Daryl bit back, "Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long do you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Rick looked at Millie then, who couldn't bring herself to look back at Rick.

Instead Millie's eyes widened at the scene before her, or what wasn't before her. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Where the hells our van?" Daryl asked.

"Who would take it?" Glenn's shaky voice rang out in a panic.

"Merle," Rick almost sneered.

Daryl quickly looked at Rick, almost not wanting to meet his eyes. "He's gonna want to take some vengeance back to camp."

"We gotta stop him before he can." Millie took off down the road, calling back to Daryl. "Do you know how to hotwire a car?"

* * *

Instead of finding a vehicle that was fast enough, like a convertible, the boys found some kind of van and sped off towards camp. But Millie and the boys didn't make it back before dark and they sure as hell didn't expect the Walker's to be all over the place when they got there. But low and behold, Walkers were tearing into the flesh of anyone they could grab. Millie snagged a shot gun from the bag and quickly fired a shot at an oncoming Walker, but she never expected the kickback to be so strong as it jolted from her hands and sent a painful blow to her collar bone. She quickly abandoned the gun as a gun and instead used it more as a club, swinging it into the head of a Walker trying to gnaw on a man she didn't know. She pulled out her knife and made quick work of a few others. "Millie, behind you," Glenn called out suddenly, only looking up as one of the Walker's came up behind her.

An ashen arm snaked its way across Millie's middle in a death grip as the groaning echoed loudly in Millie's ear. She brought her hands up quickly against its head, pushing it back, trying not to let it bite her. She screamed out as she saw another one walk towards her with its mouth snapping. An arrow embedded itself in the oncoming Walker's head which caused Millie to sigh in relief before quickly throwing her arm down and back, connecting her elbow with a chest, making the zombie uncurl his arm from her waist long enough for her to spin around low and kick his legs from under him before grabbing her fallen knife and stabbing it through his brain. Daryl ran forward, grabbed her arm and took her back to the RV where the other survivors were huddling around, looking at all the damage those Walker's had done.

* * *

I really appreciate those reviews! Especially from these people: Feuerkatz, Emzy2k11, Magic's Key, and Shika93.

Side note; Feuerkatz please keep reading, I know the whole Millie is a mom thing is a bit hard to understand at the moment, but I don't want to give anything away! Just please stick with me until season one is finished! :) It will all make sense, I swear! And I've never broken a bone before so I'm sorry if it kind of sucks in the beginning but I know that if you continuously walk or try to run on it, it wont heal properly or at all. My sister broke her nose and she kept messing with it so she had to get it rebroken to fix it... not that its the same but I'm guessing that its similiar to a broken ankle...?

Thank you to my amazing followers! I Hate Wednesdays, Lovinglifesince1993, Magic's Key, Mistressofdarkness66, ratherbereading125, Strange Little Ghost, Sophia Alice Rosalie Potter, Katherinesalvatore98, and Shika93.

And a big thank you to the people that favorited my story! GirlIncognito99, , Stjarna20, Strange Little Ghost, Sophia Alice Rosalie Potter.

ALSO! I will be moving out of my dads to see how it will be living with a few friends in an apartment until I leave for Virginia! I WILL NOT HAVE WIFI! I repeat, I WILL NOT HAVE WIFI! I don't know when I will get wifi at my new place, but when I do, I will let you all know! But have no fear, I will go to my moms to update everything so hopefully I dont disappoint everyone! Keep an eye out for the next update guys, I might be in my new place! xD So excited/nervous!


	7. Secret

Hey all! I moved my boxes into my apartment today! Whoop! And if you're wondering about the sucky formatting, I'm actually typing this on my phone, at work.. So I'm sorry! I will not be saying my thanks to people this chapter because I don't have the time but I will next chapter! Thanks everyone! :)

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Chapter 5: Secrets

Millie slowly walked up to Rick as he was bent low to the ground, the black walkie in his hands. "I'll try ya again tomorrow at dawn." Was what she heard from Rick before he let the static play out for another few seconds.

"You trying to call Morgan?" Millie called out to him. Rick turned his head to look at her, nodding once before turning off the radio. She limped over to him, her ankle flared in pain every time she took a step. The events from last night, kicking that Walker down messed up her already broken ankle. "I love looking out at the city like this, whether it be sunrise or sunset."

"The sunset is more dangerous; Walkers could be around. You know they're more active at night," Rick reminded her, joining her as she sat on her butt, just watching the sun reflect off the tall blades of grass.

She nodded, not looking at him, not wanting to be reminded of the horrible things that lay head for the rest of the survivors. "I know, but it's still beautiful. It's one of the only beautiful things left in this world, Rick, we have to enjoy it while it's still around."

Rick let her enjoy the sunrise for a few more minutes before rising to his feet. "C'mon, we have a lot to do today. It's best we get started now," he offered her a hand, which she accepted only because she was newly injured, and let him lead the way back to camp.

When the two returned, everyone was already bustling about, minus Andrea who was still staring at Amy as if expecting her to yell out that it was all a joke. A bunch of people had already tried to get the woman away from her sister, but she was mute, never looking away from Amy. Millie wouldn't even give the woman a sparing look; she wasn't a fan of Andrea ever since she put a gun to Rick's head. No one would see Millie try to help Andrea. Everybody lost someone at some point yet everyone else was helping out around camp. Hell, even Daryl was helping and he lost his brother on a roof with no real knowledge if he was dead or alive.

Millie left Rick's side as soon as he walked over to Shane and Dale, all three men watching Andrea. She walked off on her own, ignoring everyone as they all talked about poor only glanced over when she saw Rick approach the silent woman but it seemed she was ready for him. She pulled out her gun, cocking the weapon back as she aimed it at Rick; Millie stopped and stared, ready to beat that woman down. "You ain'tthinkin' 'bout runnin' over there are ya?" Daryl asked his voice almost right next to her ear. She spun around then almost glaring at him. "You're still recoverin' from yesterday."

"Are you telling me to go lay down or something? Kick back and put my feet up?" Her brows furrowed together. "I don't think so. There's already one woman doing just that."

"She lost her sister—"

"You lost your brother, Daryl, yet here you are, helping out. You are a man of action and that woman can't do anything but stare at a dead girl." Millie tossed back, seething as she looked at Daryl.

"What are you really mad about? Are you sure you're even mad at Andrea?" Millie scoffed at the question.

"Stay out of my business, Dixon," the woman spat, unsheathing her buck knife and limping as fast as she could away from Daryl, going over and helping Glenn and T-Dog with the Walker bodies.

Millie glanced back at Daryl as he joined Rick, Shane, Dale, and Lori, watching his shoulders as they rolled back with tension. Glenn grabbed her attention again once he lifted another dead body. They put the body on top of the growing flames and Glenn backed away from Millie once he saw Daryl and Morales trying to bring one of the deceased camp members over this way. "What are you doing?" Glenn cried as they dragged the man over. "This is the pile for Walkers. Our own go over there." When they made no move to stop, Glenn roughly grabbed Morales, making him drop the arm he was carrying. "We burry our own, over there," Glenn choked through clenched walked up to Glenn and put her hand on his shoulder once Daryl and Morales dragged the dead man away.

"You reap what you sow," Daryl called out.

Morales had enough of the redneck's bad attitude once Daryl roughly dropped the arm he was carrying. "You know what? Shut up, man!"

Daryl's anger unleashed itself upon the group as what Millie had said to him about his brother got to him. "Ya'll leftmy brother for dead!" He pointed at the dead bodies as if he knew Merle had let the Walkers into camp. "Ya'll had thiscomin'!"

Millie stared at the growing flames, not looking up when Daryl passed by. She watched the flames a few seconds more and then heard Jacqui yelling, "A Walker got him—A Walker got Jim!" The camp went into frenzy as they all ganged up on Jim. The poor man was scared, Millie could tell from his body language as he tried stepping backwards.

"Show it to us," Daryl called, pointing a finger at the lanky man.

Millie stepped in front of Jim, protecting him from the others. "Shut up, Daryl. Leave him be." Jim turned around and grabbed a shovel from the ground; he would use it as protection if he needed to. Millie put a comforting hand on Jim's shoulder in hopes of comforting him but he spun around out of her loose grip, his eyes wide. That was when T-Dog came in and pinned his arms behind him as Daryl came up and lifted his shirt, exposing the bite. "Daryl! Stop it, let him go, T-Dog!"

"I'm okay. I'm okay," Jim murmured to himself. Daryl stepped away from the injured man as T-Dog let him go. They all stared at the man as if he grew two heads. Millie grabbed his arm shushing him as she led him behind the RV, in the shade where he could rest.

"Don't worry, Jim. I'm sure everything will be fine." Millie cooed beside him. She had a water bottle and small rag that was on top of the cooler Jim was now sitting on, staring at the group of people that were obviously talking about him. Rick and Daryl kept stealing glances at Millie, just to make sure Jim didn't suddenly turn and try to bite her but she ignored the looks and just focused on trying to keep Jim's attention on her. "Jim, look at me," he turned to her, not meeting her eyes. "I know you're scared, but no one is going to hurt you, okay? Not with me here."

"You won't be here when I turn. They'll drag you off and put a bullet through my head."

"No, Jim, they would have to put a bullet through my own head first." Millie said, catching his eyes with hers, letting him know that she meant it.

"Here's your chance then," Jim looked back at Daryl and met his eyes.

Daryl turned the pickaxe in his hand a few times, looking at Rick. "You go lookin' for aspirin; do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl raised the pickaxe over his head, ready to bring it down on Jim. Millie sprang to her feet then, jumping quickly in front of Jim like she promised.

But it wasn't needed, Rick already had his gun cocked and pointed at the back of Daryl's head. "We don't kill the living," Rick spat out angrily, noticing Millie had gotten in front of a terrified Jim.

Daryl turned around, lowering the pickaxe. "That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"Daryl," Millie shook her head, as he looked back at her. He scoffed and walked off.

Rick moved around Millie and grabbed Jim's arm. "Come with me."

Millie let Rick take Jim, knowing he wouldn't hurt him after he protected him from Daryl. "Where are you talking me?" Jim asked, still terrified.

"Somewhere safe," Rick led the injured man into the RV as Millie went off to find another job to do.

~00000000000000000000000000000~

Millie wound up joining Daryl, helping him put a hole in the heads of the people that had been bitten or had become a full meal, like Ed, the abusive asshole in the camp. They worked in silence together, him with a heavy pickaxe, and her with the buck knife she took from the tank.

Right when Daryl was about to deliver a nasty blow to Ed's already messed up face, Carol, Ed's wife and mother to Sofiacame over, her eyes wet with tears, and grey short hair sticking to her head from sweat. "I'll do it. He's my husband." She sucked in a quivering breath as Daryl handed her the pickaxe. Millie stopped working and stared at Carol as she cried over delivered five blows to his head when it really only took one, but the abused woman took out her frustration on her deceased husband. She gave Daryl back the pickaxe and was gone again.

Daryl and Millie continued their work until they wrapped the bodies in old blankets and tarps and loaded them into the bed of Daryl's blue and white truck. She jumped in on the passenger side as Daryl started it up. He pulled away from the camp and started driving up the ridge. "I'm sorry," Millie muttered, not being able to take the silence between them anymore. But at the same time, she cursed herself for being the one to apologize first. She made herself a lot of promises back at the hospital, one being that she wouldn't apologize first anymore, especially to a man. "I shouldn't have snapped at you back there, before we found out about Jim." She refused to look him in the eye but could sense him eyeing her.

"Tss fine," he muttered out lowly. The two stayed quiet in an awkward silence until Daryl backed the truck up to where Rick and Shane were now digging the graves. Daryl walked up to the two men as Millie slowly exited the cab, limping her way over. "I still think it's a mistake; not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn them all, wasn't that the idea?"

Shane answered him curtly, "At first."

Daryl continued as if he didn't hear him. "Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hells in charge here. What the rules are." He looked at Rick, expecting answers.

"There are no rules here," Rick said, sweat dripping from his nose as he stared into the grave he just dug.

"We'll that's a problem," Lori spoke up. "We haven't had one minute to hold to anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn, and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do." Millie stood beside the truck still as Lori came over and helped her limp over to the graves. The two women clung to each other as the others came over and stood by, ready to bury the dead.

Daryl helped Rick and Shane move all the bodies into each grave, all except Amy's body, which Andrea wanted to do by herself. Millie, giving Lori time with her family, had joined Daryl towards the end of the group, her holding onto his shoulder as it helped to keep the worn out woman from collapsing. Daryl's own arm was around the woman's waist, keeping her from teetering as she tried balancing on her one good leg. He had asked silently if she wanted to return to camp, but she shook her head, wanting to stay for Andrea.

Daryl had been right. Something else had been bothering Millie ever since Amy died. She just wasn't about to tell the world what exactly it was that was eating her up inside. But she let herself grieve a little since Lori had been right, they all needed to mourn over their dead, and Millie's family was dead.

She and Daryl watched as Andrea and Dale, ready to help if Andrea needed it, lay Amy in the neat hole dug by Rick and Shane. Millie heard everyone sniffling and shedding tears meant for Amy, she was also sad to see the young girl die so soon. No one deserved to die like that, but she had and now they were all mourning the loss of Andrea's baby sister.

After a few moments of silence, everyone helped to cover the bodies with dirt and made their way back down to camp. Daryl and Millie stayed behind, grabbing the tools to place them in the bed of the truck. "What's going to happen now, Daryl? Where are we all going?" Millie inquired, not really understanding what the group would do now that the quarry wasn't safe against Walker's.

"Rick was talkin' 'bout the C.D.C., said somethin' 'bout ithavin' a cure for this disease, then Shane said sumthin' 'bout Fort Benning. It could be either one," Daryl told her, shoving the last shovel in the bed.

"Those places are like the north pole and the south pole!" Millie shook her head, "You don't think those two have personalities like that, do you? Polar opposites? That could get us all into some deep trouble."

"No idea, Girl. Get in the truck," Daryl hopped in the cab as Millie opened the door, following after him.

When they pulled the truck into its original spot, Daryl climbed out of the cab and started milling about the camp. Millie moved to the tent she stole while in the department store. It was a bit big for her comfort as it was a large tent made for a family of four, but she made due with the space. She packed all the clothes she could fit inside the make-shift backpacks she had from the hospital before shoving her bags of candy in a backpack she would be sure to leave on her shoulders from now on. She left out one Snicker's bar before piling a flashlight with some extra batteries inside along with a small pocket knife and two large bottles of water.

She stripped the extra blankets off her sleeping bag before folding them neatly and setting them inside the sleeping bag along with her pillow. She rolled the sleeping bag as tightly as she could and slipped it inside a black bag made just for it. She set up her bags against a large tree just outside her tent before taking the massive thing down. Once she had everything packed up, she put almost all of her belongings on one of the beds in the back of the RV, keeping the one backpack on her shoulders. She smiled at Jim and Rick before making her way back out, avoiding Shane and Lori, who looked like they were at odds with each other.

Millie walked off down to the little lake, needing a bit of time to herself. She was wondering about Rick and Shane's ideas of where the camp should go. She was for the CDC because of Jim, because they might just have a cure. But at the same time, Fort Benning might still be up and taking in survivors. Millie shook her head, no; it was a mistake to go to Fort Benning if there was a chance to save a man's life. Hell if she would have known they were trying to make a cure she would have taken her son—

Millie's breath caught in her throat as she quickly splashed water onto her face. She wiped away the horrible thoughts circling around her brain and locked them behind a door, burying the key somewhere no one would find it. She took a deep breath before making her way back up to camp.

She made it back up right as Rick, Shane, and Dale all came back from their trip around the woods. "I've been thinking about Rick's plan," Shane said, coming in the middle of the group around the fire pit. "Now look there are no—there are no guarantees either way; I'll be the first one to admit that." Shane looked up at Rick then. "I've known this man a long time, I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning, okay?" He nodded at a few people before getting up.

Millie left the group by the fire pit and made her way up on the RV to take watch for the rest of the night since her things had already been packed away. Very few could sleep that night, and they all waited for daylight to come again.

~00000000000000000000000000000~

In the morning, Millie watched Rick disappear again, but she didn't follow him this time. She chose to watch the sunrise from her post on top of the RV. It wasn't until Rick came back that she came down from her post, helping everyone else pack up their tents and load their things into the RV or cars they had. When everything was packed up and ready to go, Rick and Shane gathered everyone around the RV as if they were teachers explaining the rules to the children going on a field trip."Everybody listen up," Shane started, "Those of you with CB's, were going to be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down okay? Now you have a problem and don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan, any questions?"

"We're uh… We're not going," Morales spoke up, looking at Shane. No one spoke for a second. "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people."

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane gave them a pointed look as if he would change their minds.

Morales looked at his family, "We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family."

"You sure," Rick asked, eyebrows raised high as if telling them they don't have to go.

Morales nodded, "We talked about it. We're sure." He stood his ground but Millie was sad to see them go. Rick and Shane weren't going to let them go without some kind of weapon and handed over a .357 with a half full box of ammo. Daryl was biting his thumb until he shook head at what Rick and Shane were doing. No one paid him any mind though as they all said their goodbyes to the family.

Everyone piled into their vehicles accordingly and Millie was about to pile into the RV until Daryl grabbed her arm. "You're riding with me, Girl; Rick's orders." Millie rolled her eyes, what was it with Rick telling her to babysit the Dixon family?

They didn't make it too far before the RV broke down, causing them all to halt on an abandoned road. Millie didn't want to get out of the truck; she had just gotten comfortable enough that her body was slowly drifting to sleep. Daryl had gotten out of the truck with his crossbow in hand, looking about the woods for any sign of Walkers.

Millie finally climbed out of Daryl's truck right as Jacqui went back into the RV. She joined the rest of them and frowned at the RV, watching it smoke. "Rick, you want to hold down the fort and I'll go scout up ahead? See if it's a gas station?" Shane looked at Rick as he spoke.

Millie's eyebrows rose in excitement, "Gas station? I'm coming with you."

Shane opened his mouth before seeing Rick nod his head at him, telling him to take the woman. "Alright, you can back me up." Millie grinned and jumped into his jeep with him as they rode off down the road. They made it to the gas station about ten minutes later, both quiet as they looked around for Walker's. There were two inside that Millie could see but they were easy enough to take out. After that, Millie grabbed any supplies she could. She grabbed candy bars when Shane disappeared down an automotive section and raided what was left of the cigarettes behind the counter. She wasn't really a smoker; she just enjoyed the smoky scent it left behind. She would definitely have a few every now and then in stressful situations but she could never get addicted to them like her now ex-boyfriend. That man could smoke twenty packs in a day if he could afford it.

Once she gathered everything she could fit in her bag and carry on her arms, thanks to the bags that were left behind, her and Shane made it back to the group safe and sound. She gave Carl and Sophia a family size bag of chips to share while in the car and passed out a few other snacks she took. Then Rick told her about Jim and how the ride was too rough on him.

Millie watched silently as they carried Jim carefully under a large tree. She saw Rick offer the man a gun to which he shook his head, not wanting to leave this world in such a cruel said their goodbyes to Jim, Millie being the last one. She had been fighting and choking on a lump that had formed in her throat. "Jim—"

"You kept your promise of protecting me. They haven't killed me and won't kill me. I'm going to die peacefully because of you, Millie," Jim smiled at her. Millie shook her head, kneeling down by his legs.

"Jim, I'm so sorry. I should have been there to protect you from the Walkers that night. It's entirely my fault you were bit," Millie could feel the tears stream down her face before she could angrily wipe them away.

"Millie you were sick, struggling with your own problems. You can't be there for all of us; you can't protect all of us while were separated and being attacked. I'm fine. I'm going to join my family; I'm happier more than I was since I've been separated from them." Jim squeezed her hand before pushing her hand away as a sign that he wanted her to go. She nodded, gripping his hand and quickly bringing it up to her lips as she kissed him. She then turned away, towards Daryl who was waiting patiently to bring her back to the truck. Once she was inside the cab, she cried silently until her tears forced her into a light sleep.

~00000000000000000000000000000~

"Millie, get up, were almost there," Daryl's calloused hand gripped Millie's arm as he shook her carefully. Millie's eyes popped open as she quickly sat up straight. Her back ached at the sudden movement, causing her body to stretch out enough to dull the ache. She kept her eyes in front of her until she saw the CDC building with hundreds of bodies littering the streets and sidewalks. Daryl pulled to a stop behind everyone else and got out of the truck, joining Millie on the other side, his crossbow ready.

Daryl covered her as she moved to the RV, going inside and grabbing a bag with the majority of her clothes inside before digging out her knife from her other bag. Rick and the others started moving towards the closed doors with Millie and Daryl coming behind them. "This is a graveyard," Millie choked, covering her mouth and nose from the stench and flies.

They all passed through the gates without any problems, all tip-toeing through the maze of dead bodies while trying not to cough loudly. "There's nobody here," T-Dog panicked.

Rick turned to him, "Then why are these shudders down?"

Daryl kept his eyes behind the group, alerting them all as the dead started to rise. Everyone began to panic. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled, using Millie's words. Millie gripped the back of his shirt, panic setting in as more started to rise from the constant screaming, crying, and yelling.

"He made a call!"

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled.

Shane pushed him back, making him almost trip over Millie as she clung to his shirt. "Shut up, do you hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane faced Rick as the man looked around frantically for a way in. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we going to go?" Carol cried out as they all looked to Rick and Shane.

Shane looked at Rick as if Carol never spoke a word. "Do you hear me? No blame."

Lori spoke up then, holding Carl as they huddled close to Sophia and Carol. "She's right; we can't be this close to the city after dark."

Millie blocked out all the panicked voices, trying to focus on where she was as night began to fall on all of them. Shane pushed her closer to Daryl as he tried herding them back to the cars. Millie didn't want to go, this was supposed to be up and functioning. They were supposed to have a cure!

"The camera—it moved!" Rick shouted over everyone's panicked voices. "It moved."

"Rick, its dead, man, it's an automotive device. Its gears, okay? They're just winding down, now come on." Shane grabbed onto Rick's arm but he shook himself free.

Rick pounded on the door, "I know you're in there, I know you can hear me! Please, we're desperate! Please help us; we have women, children, no food, and hardly any gas left. We have nowhere else to go, please!" Rick pounded on the door more. Millie finally let go of Daryl's shirt and moved towards Rick again. "You're killing us! You're killing us!" Shane tore Rick away from the door and started pushing him back towards the cars, but the sudden noise of metal rattling had them all stopping and turning around. Millie had to shield her eyes at the bright light coming from within the CDC. They all stood there, not caring if Walkers got them all or not. This was their chance. They finally found a place to stay and keep safe.


	8. Shelter? Part 1

Chapter 6: Shelter?

Millie stood watching the light until Rick told everyone to move. She pushed into Daryl's back, getting him moving towards the open door. They all piled inside, Rick leading the way as they cautiously made their way through. A man with a gun that looked as if it didn't belong here stood waiting for everyone to enter. He looked as if he were wearing pajamas and getting ready for bedtime; he probably was until the group arrived outside his door. "Anyone infected?" he called out to us.

"One of our group was," Rick answered. "He didn't make it."

The man steps a bit closer, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

Millie stepped up beside Rick, her weapon still on her hip, unafraid of the man before her as she came out of hiding. "We want a chance."

The man moved even closer to the group when he saw her without a weapon. "That's asking an awful lot these days." He admitted, unsure of these new comers. Why did he even let them in anyway? What was it that was telling him to save them? Maybe it was because he didn't want to talk to a camera anymore as he seemed to be always making a video log. Or maybe in the end, he didn't want to die alone.

Millie nodded at the man almost as if she knew that she was asking too much. "I know," was her simple reply.

The man's eyes never focused on any one person in the room, just kept glancing around, taking in all of their expressions. "You all will submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Rick took over again, lowering his gun just a little. "We can do that."

The man packing heavy artillery lowered his weapon completely. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." Rick's head was already nodding before the man could finish his sentence.

A few of the men ventured out and grabbed what they could from the caravan, no one would let Millie pitch in to help though and she hated feeling useless. Her ex-boyfriend always had something for her to do and if he didn't then she knew she would be getting a beating for not doing something right. The woman kept shifting from foot to foot and felt her hands become clammy as she waited impatiently for something to happen. A light tap on her shoulder had her spinning around and staring into blue eyes. Daryl stuck his hand out, offering her one of the candy bars that had slipped through a hole in her backpack and landed in his truck. "You should eat this; you're starting to sweat."

Millie barely touched the candy as she took it from him. "I just want to help with moving our things inside. I can't stand around and not help, I get nervous." She ripped open the packaging and bit into the chocolate Snicker's bar. Daryl shrugged at her before giving his attention to the door. The boys had come back with the last of the things.

The strange man said something into a keypad and the lights went out as Millie walked up to Rick. "Rick Grimes." The cowboy introduced himself to the man that saved their lives. "This here is Millie." He nodded to the woman as she walked up.

"Doctor Edwin Jenner," the man said back, looking between the two with his shifty eyes. They all broke away from each other as everyone looked expectantly at Jenner who then led the survivors into an awaiting elevator.

It was silent in the cramped space as everyone huddled together, all staring at their host. Millie was pushed up against the wall in the back squished between Glenn and Daryl. Thelatter was the only one with his gun still out as he glared at Jenner, almost telling their host with his eyes that should he try anything, he would be gunned down. Millie had turned her own glare on him, silently telling him that he was being rude and to put the weapon away, but Daryl never turned to look at her, instead he asked the doctor a question. "Do doctors always go 'round packing heat like that?"

Jenner turned to him, "There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." He shifted his eyes to Millie who turned her own head and met his gaze, giving him a small smile. "But you look harmless enough," his shifty eyes glanced to Carl then, "Except you; I'll have to keep my eye on you." They smiled at each other before the elevator came to a stop and dinged, opening the doors.

Jenner led them out into a massive hallway, everyone fanning out a bit to get some space from the people they were just cramped up with. Millie and Daryl were the cabooses of the train, letting the others pull ahead. "Are we underground?" Carol called up to Jenner who was leading the pack.

"Are you claustrophobic?" he answered with a question, looking back towards the timid woman.

"A little," Carol admitted.

Jenner faced back to the front, "Try not to think about it." They followed him in silence as he led them into a big room full of computer monitors and keypads at each desk. All the monitors were combined and made a small arc forming giant ripples as if the room we're water with the ripples frozen in place. It definitely was underground as it offered no windows and the only lighting came from above their heads. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." Jenner called loudly. The lights began to power on as the back end finally made it into the room. Jenner had paused in the middle of the walkway for a brief moment. "Welcome to Zone Five."

Rick was the next one to follow him, "Where is everybody?" Rick looked around the room along with the rest of the survivors, noticing it was quite empty, "The other doctors; the staff?"

Jenner turned around and faced everyone once he was in the center of the room. He took a second to wait until Millie and Daryl were far enough in the room for them to hear what he said. "I'm it. It's just me here."

Millie didn't get to see everyone's shocked faces but she figured they would all be concerned that no one else seemed to pop up anywhere. She was still waiting for someone to come bounding down the hallway and interrupt their conversation. "What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked, halting where she stood with Carl tucked quietly by her side.

Jenner called out in a loud voice, "Vi, say hello to our guests, tell them… Welcome."

A female computer's monologue voice sounded above their heads, causing a few of the group to look up at the new noise. "Hello, Guests. Welcome."

Jenner had his head cocked to the side slightly, his eyes downcast as if he were ashamed. "I'm all that's left." Everyone's hearts fell to their stomachs at the hard truth Jenner was telling them, but he tried to make it better. "I'm sorry." When no one replied or looked him in the eye, he silently walked away and heard their scuffling feet following him out of the big room. He led them in another room, one that was more quiet and small as if it would hold a small class of students. The chairs were propped up in rows in front of a white board while Jenner was sitting in one of the chairs by the desk, taking the survivors blood. He drew from the men first, then the children, and finally took the women last.

Andrea was seated in front of Jenner at the moment, wanting to get it over with already while Millie was leaning against the door frame waiting for her turn. "What's the point in this? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

Jenner patched up her arm quickly before ushering Millie over to the now empty seat. She hesitantly stepped forward before lifting her shirt's sleeve, revealing the nasty scars that marred the arm. Jenner frowned a little but continued to answer Andrea's questions and not focus on the scars Millie had. "I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here. Let me at least just be thorough." Once Jenner fixed her up with blue tape, he took in all the downcast faces in the room, meeting Andrea's when it looked as if she were going to pass out on the floor. "You okay?"

Jacqui looked at him then, deciding to speak for the group, "She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Jenner looked at Millie who was rubbing her arm uncomfortably.

"Can you make it to the kitchen?"

* * *

Laughter filled the halls of the CDC.

The survivors were all crowded together, sitting in front of a well cooked meal, drinking wine and liquor of all kinds, finally being able to let go for once since the world ended. Millie was happy to be with them all, but at the same time, she didn't want to be with these unfamiliar people, she wanted her family here with her. But instead of being downcast about everything, she decided to drink. A lot. She didn't stop when she tipped back her third glass of wine and the rest of them just decided to give her a bottle of her own since she insisted on refills.

Hell even Dale was trying to get Carl to drink, which the little boy was eager to try, though he politely looked to his parents for permission first. Lori finally caved after Rick and Carl both gave her cheeky grins, laughing as she took her hand away from the boy's glass.

The room became quiet as Carl tipped the small glass to his lips, taking only a sip big enough to get a taste. His lips puckered, nose scrunching as he let out a disgusted noise. Lori praised him for not liking the sour drink before tipping the rest of it in her own glass. "Stick to soda pop there, bud," Shane said, trying to mingle along with the rest of the group.

"Not you, Glenn!" Daryl called, leaning over the table to see the Asian boy holding a wine bottle of his own, reading the label.

"What?" He cracked a toothy smile at Daryl and everyone else as they all looked to him.

"Keep drinking little man, I wanna see how red your face can git!" the redneck snickered, pouring himself another glass of hard liquor. Probably whiskey but Millie wasn't too sure, she couldn't read the label. Everyone laughed as the younger man glanced around, looking as if he couldn't speak with the sudden attention thrown his way.

Rick's attention then went to Doctor Jenner, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, sucked away into an endless abyss. Rick thought that it was because the group was excluding him so he quickly tapped his knife against his wine glass, quieting the chatter and grabbing everyone's attention before standing up, facing the doctor. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly."

Everyone grabbed their glasses and raised them high, cheering to Jenner who saved them and put smiles on their faces for the first time in long time. "He is more than just our host," T-Dog slurred, already letting the alcohol take over his mindset. They all cheered loudly before Daryl yelled out, "Booyah!" and the rest laughed and called out the same words before tipping their drinks back in delight.

The happy faces and smiles were gone right when Shane decided to ruin the moment, just as Daryl sat heavily in a seat beside Millie, who hadn't taken the bottle of wine off her lips until Shane decided to open his mouth. "So when are you gonnatell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" The man lazily spun his drink around before sparing a glance over at the Doctor who was starting to crack one of his own smiles, "All the—the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happenedwhere are they?" Shane tapped his fingers lightly on his glass, not looking away from it while he asked his question.

Rick reprimanded him instantly, "We're celebrating, 't need to do this now," the man sat back down next to his wife and child once again.

The hostility rose as Shane began defending himself, "Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" He flicked his eyes over to Rick before looking away as Rick tried to catch his eyes. "This was your move—supposed to find all the answers. Instead we found him." He pointed his thumb over at Jenner who sat uncomfortably all by his lonesome. "We found one man. Why?"

Jenner decided to take the man on, defending himself as if the man was accusing him of some crime by being the only one left alive. "Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families." Jenner looked over at Rick then, noticing everyone's eyes on him as he told the tale of what happened at the CDC. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner had that far off look back in his eye as he stared at his table. Millie felt bad for the man; he was left here, the only surviving warrior in the CDC.

"Every last one?" Shane eyed the man doubtfully.

"No," Jenner admitted, fully taking in the look that Shane was giving him. "Many couldn't face walking out the door. They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides." Jenner looked down again once some of the people awkwardly took sips or mouthfuls of their drinks at the sadness the table seemed to take on. "That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea spoke up, asking the question they all wanted an answer to. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner said, locking eyes with the blonde woman.

Glenn got up just then, eyeing Shane with slight distaste. "Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man." He plopped himself in an empty chair as the quiet settled in awkwardly across all the survivors.

Millie jumped up from her spot grabbing her finished bottle of wine and brought it to the table where a full bottle of hard liquor was waiting for her to pick it up. She snatched the bottle in her hand quickly before putting her lips on the top and throwing her head back for a nice long drink. Once she was done she eyed Jenner with a crooked smile on her face. "So where are we all sleeping tonight? I call the liquor cabinet!" She cackled to herself as she started to let the room spin awkwardly around her.

"I suppose you all would like some quiet rooms for yourselves." Jenner got to his feet and walked out into another hallway, expecting the others follow him. Once they grabbed their belongings, they wandered into the hall after the Doctor."Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd like." He stopped for a brief moment to look behind him at the two little kids in the group. "There's a rec room down the hall you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power, the same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water." Jenner wagged a finger at the stopped group in front of him before turning down a different hall and disappearing, letting everyone decide on their own rooms.

Glenn turned to everyone behind him, a big toothy grin on his face, "Hot water?"

T-Dog shared the Asian's smile, both looking at each other, "That's what the man said." Then everyone scattered into different rooms, smiles bright on their faces again.

Millie took a separate room back a ways when Jenner first dragged them through the hall. It was a small room but it was big enough for her. She smiled to herself and quickly dragged her few belongings into the abandoned room. There wasn't much around except for a small lobby where couches were pushed together behind a small glass coffee table that had a fake pink flower in a black jar sitting untouched on top of it; and a private bathroom that was calling her name. She quickly dumped her belongings on the couch and almost ran to the bathroom. She only took the bottle of whiskey with her, deciding that her good time wasn't going to end until she couldn't remember her own name. She deserved a drink, or ten.

She left a small trail of clothing behind her as she slipped into the bathroom, turning on the hot water immediately. She was just going to stand in it for long time first, and then when her skin was redder than a tomato she would wash off and scrub her hair. She had a feeling everyone else would be doing the same.

She brought the bottle to her lips again, almost moaning when the strong liquid rushed down her throat, leaving a burning sensation behind. Her mind started to reel as she realized she was finally alone.

She was alone.

She didn't have anyone to cry to or to hold against her anymore. She missed that the most; the feeling of her son's arms wrapped tightly around her waist in a bear hug, never embarrassed that he gave affection to his mother in public, especially in front of his friends. She missed the late night drives she would take him on when her boyfriend was too drunk to come home, rolling down the windows to feel the breeze on their faces as they drove through the city together, just enjoying each other's company. She missed the picnic's she took him on, pulling him out of school for a late lunch, and then returning him when his next class was halfway over. She missed being a mother the most; missed the responsibilities of being one at least.

Then her mind took her back to all the times her boyfriend smacked him around, barking orders at him even though he wasn't his father. She had done nothing to stop him except when he decided to get violent towards him, and then she would try to keep him away from her son. He would usually turn on her and beat her while her son stared at her with broken eyes. But there were a few rare moments that he would only knock her down and keep hitting the poor boy. That's what he had done the day Millie went to the hospital for her ankle. Her son had comehome feeling sick and running a fever, telling her that his bones felt like they were going to break every time he moved. That's when her boyfriend came barreling over and smacked him to the ground, hearing him cry out in agony until he became quite. Millie was terrified that the bastard of a man beat her son unconscious, so she jumped on him and tried to beat him up as tears began to flow from her eyes, but he simply yanked her off of him and kicked at her ankle until she screamed. After that he laid a few more beatings into her son before disappearing down the hall to their bedroom.

That was when Millie dragged her boy to his room and promised him that she would come back for him, even though she knew he was dead. Her boyfriend had beaten him until he cried no more and the last thing she did was abandon her child. She took all the blame on herself; it was her fault that he was dead; she killed her own son by bringing him into that environment.

Millie let out a strangled cry of despair at her own loss, letting the flood gates open as her mind dug out the key and unlocked the door she tried to keep her thoughts behind. She sank to the ground, letting the hot water fall against her skin as if tiny whips were punishing her for her acts against her son. It wasn't enough though, it would never be enough. Taking her own life wouldn't even be enough punishment for Millie. The world crumbling down was a small start, a very small start. She dragged the liquor back against her lips as she chugged the heavy bottle until every last drop was gone. Her stomach fought against it, threatening to chuck everything back up but she didn't care anymore. Once her shower was done, she was going to find something even stronger. She didn't want to remember anything else for the rest of her life.

* * *

**Hey Guys! Long time no update, I know and I'm sorry.. I still don't have WiFi so it's going to be awhile longer. Please forgive me! I also have been getting more hours at work, which sucks but it's also really good because now I can pay rent, woo! Plus I got a raise! Yay! But the sucky news is that I have had no time to write season 2! I need wifi so I can get netflix to rewatch the show. And my roommate won't get it because he wants to make sure everyone can afford it. :( I really appreciate everyone sticking with my story even though I haven't posted in 20 days! But the good thing is that this chapter is the longest one I have written so it's going to be split into parts! Woop!**

**A special thanks to everyone who has followed so far; green angel01, DreamingUntilForever11, TeamComrade11, jjchickybabe, paddyfoot92, Otaku Wench, LiliAnn Jackson, Morana - Goddess of Nightmares, LoveIsAJourneyNotADestination2, KilalaInara, silverbluerose, It's Lucy's Wonderland Madness.**

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**And to everyone that has viewed my story, I appreciate you as well, thank you! It means a lot to have everyone read my story and enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Also a special side note dedicated to ravensandrats who has reviewed nonstop with encouraging words! Seriously, you're the best, thank you!**

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